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EXO 0748-676 is a well-studied neutron star (NS) Low Mass X-ray Binary (LMXB) that recently emerged from 16 years of quiescence into a new outburst. Here, we report the results from a 53 ks XMM-Newton observation to compare with studies for the previous outburst, particularly focusing on high-resolution spectroscopy using the same instrument (RGS) that produced important results for this source during the previous outburst. The EPIC light curve reveals a type I X-ray burst at MJD 60492.31. The entire data are divided into burstless, pre-, and post-burst spectra to understand the effect of the burst on the ionization structure. The spectra for dip and non-dip phases are also created. The primary spectral feature in all phases is a broad O VII recombination line, along with velocity-broadened OVIII, NVII, and Ne IX lines. Notably, the Ne IX line is detected at different ionization states for the pre-burst (11.65 \AA) and post-burst (13.56 \AA) phases. The O VIII line profile also shows a difference in equivalent width between dip and non-dip phases. These findings suggest the presence of highly ionized circumstellar material or collisionally ionized gas affected by the burst and dips. The source remains in a soft spectral state, which is consistent with observations during the previous outburst., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables

Many accretion-powered pulsars rotate in magnetocentrifugal disequilibrium, spinning up or down secularly over multi-year intervals. The magnetic dipole moment $\mu$ of such systems cannot be inferred uniquely from the time-averaged aperiodic X-ray flux $\langle L(t) \rangle$ and pulse period $\langle P(t) \rangle$, because the radiative efficiency of the accretion is unknown and degenerate with the mass accretion rate. Here we circumvent the degeneracy by tracking the fluctuations in the unaveraged time series $L(t)$ and $P(t)$ using an unscented Kalman filter, whereupon $\mu$ can be estimated uniquely, up to the uncertainties in the mass, radius and distance of the star. The analysis is performed on Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations for $24$ X-ray transients in the Small Magellanic Cloud, which have been monitored regularly for $\sim 16$ years. As well as independent estimates of $\mu$, the analysis yields time-resolved histories of the mass accretion rate and the Maxwell stress at the disk-magnetosphere boundary for each star, and hence auto- and cross-correlations involving the latter two state variables. The inferred fluctuation statistics convey important information about the complex accretion physics at the disk-magnetosphere boundary., Comment: 42 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

We present a statistical analysis of the He ii 4686 emission line in the spectra of the black hole and Wolf-Rayet (WR) star of the high-mass X-ray binary IC10 X-1. This line is visibly skewed, and the third moment (skewness) varies with the binary's orbital phase. We describe a new method of extracting such weak/faint features lying barely above a noisy continuum. Using the moments of these features, we have been able to decompose these skewed lines into two symmetric Gaussian profiles as a function of the orbital phase. The astrophysical implications of this decomposition are significant due to the complex nature of wind-accretion stream interactions in such binary systems. Previous studies have already shown a 0.25 phase lag in the radial velocity curve of the star and the X-ray eclipse, which indicates that the He ii emitters might be in the stellar wind, hence not tracing the star's orbital motion. Results from this work further suggest the existence of two separate emitting regions, one in the stellar wind in the shadow of the WR star, and another in the accretion stream that impacts the black hole's outer accretion disk; and the observed skewed He ii lines can be reproduced by superposition of the two corresponding time-dependent Gaussian emission profiles., Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Journal

IC 10 X-1 is an eclipsing high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) containing a stellar-mass black hole (BH) and a Wolf-Rayet (WR) donor star with an orbital period of P = 34.9 hr. This binary belongs to a group of systems that can be the progenitors of gravitational wave sources, hence understanding the dynamics of systems such as IC 10 X-1 is of paramount importance. The prominent He II 4686 emission line (previously used in mass estimates of the BH) is out of phase with the X-ray eclipse, suggesting that this line originates somewhere in the ionized wind of the WR star or in the accretion disk. We obtained 52 spectra from the GEMINI/GMOS archive, observed between 2001 and 2019. We analyzed the spectra both individually, and after binning them by orbital phase to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The RV curve from the stacked data is similar to historical results, indicating the overall parameters of the binary have remained constant. However, the He II line profile shows a correlation with the X-ray hardness-ratio values, also, we report a pronounced skewness of the line-profile, and the skewness varies with the orbital phase. These results support a paradigm wherein the He II line tracks structures in the stellar wind that are produced by interactions with the BH's ionizing radiation and the accretion flow. We compare the observable signatures of two alternative hypotheses proposed in the literature: wind irradiation plus shadowing, and accretion disk hotspot; and we explore how the line-profile variations fit into each of these models., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, ApJ Accepted

SXP 15.3 and SXP 305 are two Be X-ray binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud that are spatially separated by ~7 arcsec. The small separation between these sources has, in the past, resulted in confusion about the origin of the emission from the combined region. We present long-term optical and X-ray monitoring results of both sources, where we study the historic and recent behaviour. In particular, from data collected as part of the S-CUBED project we see repeating X-ray outbursts from the combined region of the two sources in the recent lightcurve from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, and we investigate the origin of this emission. Using the H-alpha emission line from the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) and photometric flux from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) to study the changes in the size and structure of the Be disc, we demonstrate that the X-ray emission likely originates from SXP 15.3. Timing analysis reveals unusual behaviour, where the optical outburst profile shows modulation at twice the frequency of the X-ray outbursts. We consider either of these periodicities being the true orbital period in SXP 15.3 and propose models based on the geometric orientations of the Be disc and neutron star to explain the physical origin of the outbursts., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present new X-ray and UV observations of the Wolf-Rayet + black hole binary system NGC 300 X-1 with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. When combined with archival X-ray observations, our X-ray and UV observations sample the entire binary orbit, providing clues to the system geometry and interaction between the black hole accretion disk and the donor star wind. We measure a binary orbital period of 32.7921$\pm$0.0003 hr, in agreement with previous studies, and perform phase-resolved spectroscopy using the X-ray data. The X-ray light curve reveals a deep eclipse, consistent with inclination angles of $i=60-75^{\circ}$, and a pre-eclipse excess consistent with an accretion stream impacting the disk edge. We further measure radial velocity variations for several prominent FUV spectral lines, most notably He II $\lambda$1640 and C IV $\lambda$1550. We find that the He II emission lines systematically lag the expected Wolf-Rayet star orbital motion by a phase difference $\Delta \phi\sim0.3$, while C IV $\lambda$1550 matches the phase of the anticipated radial velocity curve of the Wolf-Rayet donor. We assume the C IV $\lambda$1550 emission line follows a sinusoidal radial velocity curve (semi-amplitude = 250 km s$^{-1}$) and infer a BH mass of 17$\pm$4 M$_{\odot}$. Our observations are consistent with the presence of a wind-Roche lobe overflow accretion disk, where an accretion stream forms from gravitationally focused wind material and impacts the edge of the black hole accretion disk., Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 22 pages, 16 figures, 7 tables