LMXBCAT - Low-Mass X-Ray Binary Catalog (4th Edition, 2007)

Overview

This is the Fourth Edition of the Catalog of Low-mass X-ray Binaries (LMXBs) in the Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds. The catalog has a companion catalog of high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) which is called HMXBCAT in the HEASARC database system).

The catalog contains source name(s), coordinates, X-ray flux, system parameters, and stellar parameters of the components and other characteristic properties of 187 low-mass X-ray binaries, together with references to a comprehensive selection of the relevant literature. The aim of this catalog is to provide some basic information on the X-ray sources and their counterparts in other wavelength ranges (gamma-rays, UV, optical, IR, and radio). Some sources, however, are only tentatively identified as low-mass X-ray binaries on the basis of their X-ray properties being similar to the known low-mass X-ray binaries. Further identification in other wavelength bands is needed to finally determine the nature of these sources. In cases where there is some doubt about the low-mass nature of the X-ray binary, this is mentioned. Literature published before 1 October 2006 has, as far as possible, been taken into account.

Catalog Bibcode

2007A&A...469..807L

References

A catalogue of low-mass X-ray binaries in the Galaxy, LMC, and SMC (Fourth
Edition)
     Liu Q.Z., van  Paradijs J., van  den  Heuvel E.P.J.
    <Astron. Astrophys. 469, 807 (2007)>
    =2007A&A...469..807L

Provenance

This online catalog was created by the HEASARC in September 2007 based on machine-readable tables obtained from the ADC/CDS data centers (their catalog J/A+A/469/807, tables lmxb.dat and lmxbnote.dat).

Parameters

Name
The X-ray source name, with rough information on its sky location, according to the standard position-based IAU-recommended naming conventions, e.g., hhmm(+/-)ddd. hhmmss.s(+/1)ddmmss, etc. Here hh, mm, ss.s indicate the hours, minutes and seconds of right ascension, and ddmmss the degrees, arcminutes and arcseconds of declination. The prefix J indicates a name based on J2000 coordinates, otherwise 1950 coordinates were used in the name, and there is no letter prefix in front of the positional part of the name, e.g., '4U 2142+38'. This first part of the name contains an abbreviation, usually containing a string identifying the X-ray satellite and/or experiment by which the source was listed and detected (except for some sources in the Galactic Center, e.g., GC X-4), as follows:

          A: Ariel V
         AX: ASCA
      CXOGC: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Galactic Center
          E: Einstein Observatory
        EXO: EXOSAT
        GRO: (Compton) Gamma-Ray Observatory
        GPS: Galactic Plane Survey (EXOSAT)
        GRS: Granat
         GS: Ginga
          H: HEAO A-1
       HETE: HETE-2
        IGR: INTEGRAL
         KS: Kvant
          M: MIT Instrument on OSO-7
        MXB: MIT X-ray Burster
         RX: ROSAT
        RXS: ROSAT
          S: SAS-3
        SAX: BeppoSAX
        SLX: Space Lab X-ray
      Swift: Swift
          U: Uhuru
         XB: X-ray Burster
       XMMU: XMM-Newton
        XTE: RossiXTE

Xray_Type
The X-Ray source type, according to the following rubric:

         A: known atoll source
         B: X-ray burst source
         D: "dipping" low-mass X-ray binary
         E: eclipsing or partially eclipsing low-mass X-ray binary
         G: globular cluster X-ray source
         M: micropulsar
         P: X-ray pulsar
         R: radio-loud X-ray binary
         T: transient X-ray source
         U: Ultra-soft X-ray spectrum
         Z: Z-type source

RA
The Right Ascension of the low-mass X-ray binary in the selected equinox. In the original CDS version of the catalog table this was given in J2000 equatorial coordinates and with a precision varying between 0.001 - 1 seconds of time.

Dec
The Declination of the low-mass X-ray binary in the selected equinox. In the original CDS version of the catalog table this was given in J2000 equatorial coordinates and with a precision varying between 0.01 arcseconds to 1 arcminute.

LII
The Galactic Longitude of the low-mass X-ray binary.

BII
The Galactic Latitude of the low-mass X-ray binary.

Position_Type
The energy range of the observation used for the derivation of the source position: O: optical; X: X-ray; R: radio; IR: infrared.

Optical_Name
The name or type of the optical counterpart, if known. "No." followed by a number or letter refers to a star number used in the finding chart, while 'star' refers to a star in the finding chart that was not assigned a number or letter. Many optical counterparts have been indicated with their variable-star name, as given in the General Catalog of Variable Stars (HEASARC GCVS database) and/or in recent Name Lists of Variable Stars. For X-ray sources in globular clusters, the cluster name is usually given here.

Ref_Optical_Name
Reference codes for the finding chart(s) for the optical counterpart. The reference code key can be found at https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/A+A/469/807/refs.dat.

Vmag
The apparent visual (V) Magnitude of the optical counterpart. If a range of visual magnitudes is known for a source, this parameter lists the maximum (brightest) magnitude while the parameter vmag_min lists the minimum (faintest) magnitude.

Vmag_Min
If a range of visual magnitudes is known for a source, this parameter lists the minimum (faintest) magnitude, while the parameter vmag lists the maximum (brightest) magnitude.

BV_Color
The B-V Color Index of the optical counterpart.

BV_Color_Flag
A flag for the B-V Color which is set to ":" if its value is considered uncertain.

UB_Color
The U-B Color Index of the optical counterpart.

Reddening_Limit
A limit flag for the interstellar reddening that is set to "~" if it is an approximate value, ">" if it is a lower limit, or "<" if it is an upper limit.

Reddening
The interstellar reddening, E(B-V), of the optical counterpart. If a range of E(B-V) values is known for a source, this parameter lists the minimum value while the parameter reddening_max lists the maximum value.

Reddening_Flag
A flag for the reddening which is set to ":" if its value is considered uncertain.

Reddening_Max
If a range of E(B-V) values is known for a source, this parameter lists the maximum value while the parameter reddening lists the minimum value.

Ref_Photometry
Reference codes for the optical counterpart photometric information. The reference code key can be found at https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/A+A/469/807/refs.dat.

Flux_Limit
If the value of the X-ray flux is an upper limit rather than a detection, this flag is set to a value of '<'.

Flux
The average observed X-ray flux (density) in microJanskies (µJy) in the 2 - 10 keV energy range, unless (i) a range of X-ray flux (densities) is known, in which case this parameter contains the minimum observed X-ray flux (density) and the parameter flux_max contains the maximum observed X-ray flux (density), likewise in microJanskies (µJy), or (ii) the observed X-ray flux (density) is known for a different energy range, in which case the energy range is specified by the value of the fluxx_range parameter.

Notice that 1 uJy = 10^-29 erg/s/cm²/Hz = 2.4 10^-12 erg/s/cm²/keV.

Flux_Max
If a range of X-ray flux (densities) is known for a source, this parameter contains the maximum observed X-ray flux (density) in microJanskies (µJy) and the parameter flux contains the minimum observed X-ray flux (density), likewise in microJanskies (µJy).

Flux_Range
This parameter contains the energy range corresponding to the quoted X-ray flux values (flux and flux_max). If blank, the energy range can be assumed to be 2 - 10 keV.

Ref_Flux
Reference code(s) for the X-ray flux (density) information. The reference code key can be found at https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/A+A/469/807/refs.dat.

Porb
The orbital period of the LMXB, in days. Notice that this parameter was (for most sources) listed in hours in the CDS version of this catalog, except for a small number of cases for binaries with very wide orbits for which the values given were in days. The HEASARC thus converted all the periods given in hours into days. The precision of the orbital periods in the original table vary from 10^-6 hours (~ 4 x 10^-8 days) to 1 day. The HEASARC has chose to display this parameter to a precision of 10^-4 days. If the user needs to know the original precision of the period, they should examine the entry for the desired source in the file https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/A+A/469/807/lmxb.dat.

Porb_Flag
A flag that is set to ":" or "?" if the orbital period value is considered to be uncertain.

Pulse_Period
For X-ray Pulsars, this is the pulse period, in seconds.

Ref_Periods
Reference code(s) for the orbital and/or pulse period information. The reference code key can be found at https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/A+A/469/807/refs.dat.

Alt_Name_1
An alternative name for the LMXB.

Alt_Name_2
A second alternative name for the LMXB.

Class
The HEASARC Browse object classification for the LMXB, set to the default value for an LMXB for all entries in this table.

LMXB_Notes
This parameter contains the notes for the given LMXB which were copied from the file https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/A+A/469/807/lmxbnote.dat. The numbers in square brackets are the reference codes, the key for which is given in the file https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/A+A/469/807/refs.dat.

Contact Person

Questions regarding the LMXBCAT database table can be addressed to the HEASARC Help Desk.

Page Author: Browse Software Development Team
Last Modified: Monday, 16-Sep-2024 17:30:04 EDT