[en] We present the optical/infrared (O/IR) light curve of the black hole X-ray binary GX 339-4 collected at the SMARTS 1.3 m telescope from 2002 to 2010. During this time the source has undergone numerous state transitions including hard-to-soft state transitions when we see large changes in the near-IR flux accompanied by modest changes in optical flux, and three rebrightening events in 2003, 2005, and 2007 after GX 339-4 transitioned from the soft state to the hard. All but one outburst show similar behavior in the X-ray hardness-intensity diagram. We show that the O/IR colors follow two distinct tracks that reflect either the hard or soft X-ray state of the source. Thus, either of these two X-ray states can be inferred from O/IR observations alone. From these correlations we have constructed spectral energy distributions of the soft and hard states. During the hard state, the near-IR data have the same spectral slope as simultaneous radio data when GX 339-4 was in a bright optical state, implying that the near-IR is dominated by a non-thermal source, most likely originating from jets. Non-thermal emission dominates the near-IR bands during the hard state at all but the faintest optical states, and the fraction of non-thermal emission increases with increasing optical brightness. The spectral slope of the optical bands indicate that a heated thermal source is present during both the soft and hard X-ray states, even when GX 339-4 is at its faintest optical state. We have conducted a timing analysis of the light curve for the hard and soft states and find no evidence of a characteristic timescale within the range of 4-230 days.

[en] We report multiwavelength observations of the black hole transient GX 339-4 during its outburst decay in 2011 using the data from RXTE, Swift, and SMARTS. Based on the X-ray spectral, temporal, and optical and infrared (OIR) properties, the source evolved from the soft intermediate to the hard state. Twelve days after the start of the transition toward the hard state, a rebrightening was observed simultaneously in the optical and the infrared bands. Spectral energy distributions (SEDs) were created from observations at the start, and close to the peak of the rebrightening. The excess OIR emission above the smooth exponential decay yields flat spectral slopes for these SEDs. Assuming that the excess is from a compact jet, we discuss the possible locations of the spectral break that mark the transition from optically thick to optically thin synchrotron components. Only during the rising part of the rebrightening, we detected fluctuations with the binary period of the system. We discuss a scenario that includes irradiation of the disk in the intermediate state, irradiation of the secondary star during OIR rise, and jet emission dominating during the peak to explain the entire evolution of the OIR light curve.

[en] We present an improved method for determining the mass of neutron stars in eclipsing X-ray pulsar binaries and apply the method to six systems, namely, Vela X-1, 4U 1538-52, SMC X-1, LMC X-4, Cen X-3, and Her X-1. In previous studies to determine neutron star mass, the X-ray eclipse duration has been approximated analytically by assuming that the companion star is spherical with an effective Roche lobe radius. We use a numerical code based on Roche geometry with various optimizers to analyze the published data for these systems, which we supplement with new spectroscopic and photometric data for 4U 1538-52. This allows us to model the eclipse duration more accurately and thus calculate an improved value for the neutron star mass. The derived neutron star mass also depends on the assumed Roche lobe filling factor β of the companion star, where β = 1 indicates a completely filled Roche lobe. In previous work a range of β between 0.9 and 1.0 was usually adopted. We use optical ellipsoidal light-curve data to constrain β. We find neutron star masses of 1.77 ± 0.08 M_sun for Vela X-1, 0.87 ± 0.07 M_sun for 4U 1538-52 (eccentric orbit), 1.00 ± 0.10 M_sun for 4U 1538-52 (circular orbit), 1.04 ± 0.09 M_sun for SMC X-1, 1.29 ± 0.05 M_sun for LMC X-4, 1.49 ± 0.08 M_sun for Cen X-3, and 1.07 ± 0.36 M_sun for Her X-1. We discuss the limits of the approximations that were used to derive the earlier mass determinations, and we comment on the implications our new masses have for observationally refining the upper and lower bounds of the neutron star mass distribution.

[en] The X-ray persistence and characteristically soft spectrum of the black hole X-ray binary LMC X-3 make this source a touchstone for penetrating studies of accretion physics. We analyze a rich, ten-year collection of optical/infrared (OIR) time-series data in conjunction with all available contemporaneous X-ray data collected by the All-Sky Monitor and Proportional Counter Array detectors aboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. A cross-correlation analysis reveals an X-ray lag of ≈2 weeks. Motivated by this result, we develop a model that reproduces the complex OIR light curves of LMC X-3. The model is comprised of three components of emission: stellar light, accretion luminosity from the outer disk inferred from the time-lagged X-ray emission, and light from the X-ray-heated star and outer disk. Using the model, we filter a strong noise component out of the ellipsoidal light curves and derive an improved orbital period for the system. Concerning accretion physics, we find that the local viscous timescale in the disk increases with the local mass accretion rate; this in turn implies that the viscosity parameter α decreases with increasing luminosity. Finally, we find that X-ray heating is a strong function of X-ray luminosity below ≈50% of the Eddington limit, while above this limit X-ray heating is heavily suppressed. We ascribe this behavior to the strong dependence of the flaring in the disk upon X-ray luminosity, concluding that for luminosities above ≈50% of Eddington, the star lies fully in the shadow of the disk.

[en] We analyze a large set of new and archival photometric and spectroscopic observations of LMC X-3 to arrive at a self-consistent dynamical model for the system. Using echelle spectra obtained with the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle instrument on the 6.5 m Magellan Clay telescope and the UVES instrument on the second 8.2 m Very Large Telescope, we find a velocity semiamplitude for the secondary star of K ₂ = 241.1 ± 6.2 km s^–1, where the uncertainty includes an estimate of the systematic error caused by X-ray heating. Using the spectra, we also find a projected rotational velocity of V _rotsin i = 118.5 ± 6.6 km s^–1. From an analysis of archival B and V light curves as well as new B and V light curves from the SMARTS 1.3 m telescope, we find an inclination of i = 69.°84 ± 0.°37 for models that do not include X-ray heating and an inclination of i = 69.°24 ± 0.°72 for models that incorporate X-ray heating. Adopting the latter inclination measurement, we find masses of 3.63 ± 0.57 M _☉ and 6.98 ± 0.56 M _☉ for the companion star and the black hole, respectively. We briefly compare our results with earlier work and discuss some of their implications.