The optical long ‘period’ of LMC X-3
Corresponding Author
C. Brocksopp
1 Astrophysical Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, 12 Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead L41 1LD
2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
[email protected]Search for more papers by this authorP.J. Groot
3 Astronomical Institute ‘Anton Pannekoek’ and Center for High-Energy Astrophysics, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 403, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, the Netherlands
4 Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Search for more papers by this authorJ. Wilms
5 Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Abt. Astronomie, Waldhäuser Straße 64, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
C. Brocksopp
1 Astrophysical Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, 12 Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead L41 1LD
2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
[email protected]Search for more papers by this authorP.J. Groot
3 Astronomical Institute ‘Anton Pannekoek’ and Center for High-Energy Astrophysics, University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 403, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, the Netherlands
4 Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Search for more papers by this authorJ. Wilms
5 Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Abt. Astronomie, Waldhäuser Straße 64, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
We have studied the long-term variability of LMC X-3 in optical light curves spanning 6 yr, in order to search for optical signatures which could confirm or refute the suggestion that the ‘modulation’ is the result of accretion-rate variability rather than accretion-disc precession. We find that there is no stable period in the optical light curves, that the optical and X-ray light curves are correlated, with an X-ray lag, and that there is no modulation in the optical colours. We argue that these effects agree with the variable mass-accretion rate model proposed by Wilms et al.
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