NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0154
|
NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0154 |
|
PI: Nathalie Degenaar, Univ. of Amsterdam, N.D.Degenaar@uva.nl
Address: Astronomical Institute, Kruislaan 403, Amsterdam 1098SJ, Netherlands
CoI: Dipankar Maitra, Univ. of Amsterdam
CoI: Rudy Wijnands, Univ. of Amsterdam
Title: Identification of Optical/near-IR Counterparts of very-faint X-ray Transients
Abstract:
Transiently accreting compact objects (neutron stars and black
holes) spend most of their time in a dim, quiescent state, but
occasionally they experience bright X-ray outbursts during which their X-
ray luminosity increases by more than a factor of 100. The brightest X-
ray transients have been known and extensively studied since the
beginning days of X-ray astronomy. However, in the past decade it
became clear that there exists a group of X-ray transients that display
anomalously low X-ray luminosities during outburst. The nature of these
systems is not understood, but they might harbor exotic manifestations
of accreting neutron stars and black holes. For most of these very-
faint systems no optical/IR counterpart has been identified so far. We
propose X-ray triggered optical/IR target-of-opportunity observations of
these enigmatic X-ray transients during outburst, using the CTIO/SMARTS
1.3m telescope, to search for their optical/IR counterparts. With the
proposed observations we aim to study not only the nature of individual
systems, but also the properties of the population of very-faint X-ray
transients as a whole.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
|
NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0154 |
|