Stellar Wind Parameters of Massive Stars in Accretion-Powered High-Mass X-Ray Binary Pulsars
Beskrovnaya N. Ikhsanov N. Kim V.
April 2025Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
Galaxies
2025#13Issue 2
The process of mass exchange between the components of High-Mass X-ray Binary (HMXB) systems with neutron stars undergoing wind-fed accretion is discussed. The X-ray luminosity of these systems allows us to evaluate the mass capture rate by the neutron star from the stellar wind of its massive companion and set limits on the relative velocity between the neutron star and the wind. We found that the upper limit to the wind velocity in the orbital plane during the high state of the X-ray source is in the range of 120–1000 (Formula presented.), which is by a factor of 2–4 lower than both the terminal wind velocity and the speed of the wind flowing out from the polar regions of massive stars for all the objects under investigation. This finding is valid not only for the systems with Be stars, but also for the systems in which the optical components do not exhibit the Be phenomenon. We also show that the lower limit to the radial wind velocity in these systems can unlikely be smaller than a few percent of the orbital velocity of the neutron star. This provides us with a new constraint on the mass transfer process in the outflowing disks of Be-type stars.
accretion , high-mass X-ray binary , magnetic field , neutron star , pulsars , stellar wind
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Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Pulkovo, Pulkovskoe Shosse 65-1, St. Petersburg, 196140, Russian Federation
Special Astrophysical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhnii Arkhyz, 369167, Russian Federation
The Institute of Applied Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Kutuzov Emb., 10, St. Petersburg, 191187, Russian Federation
Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute, Observatory 23, Almaty, 050020, Kazakhstan
Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Pulkovo
Special Astrophysical Observatory
The Institute of Applied Astronomy
Fesenkov Astrophysical Institute
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