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Optical spectroscopy of the 2005 outburst of the X-ray transient XTE J1118+480

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2006

P. Elebert ,
P. J. Callanan  and
M. A. P. Torres
P. Elebert
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University College Cork, Ireland email: p.elebert@ucc.ie
P. J. Callanan
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University College Cork, Ireland email: p.elebert@ucc.ie
M. A. P. Torres
Affiliation:
Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60, Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
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Abstract

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We present time-resolved spectroscopy from the January 2005 outburst of the X-ray nova XTE J1118+480. X-ray observations show this outburst to be about half as bright as the previous outburst in 2000. This suggests that the accretion rate was lower than that in the 2000 outburst. Our spectroscopic analysis shows that the emission from the H$\alpha$ line occurs at a higher velocity in the recent outburst compared with the 2000 outburst, more consistent with quiescence/near-quiescence values. This is surprising, considering the $\sim$5 magnitude brightening of the accretion disk relative to its quiescent state.

Keywords

X-rays: binariesaccretion diskstechniques: spectroscopic