The Galactic Centre Source IRS 13E: a Post-LBV Wolf-Rayet Colliding Wind Binary?

R.F. Coker(1), J.M. Pittard(1), J.H. Kastner(2)


(1) Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT UK
(2) Chester F. Carlson Centre for Imaging Science,
(3) Rochester Institute of Technology, 54 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623

Paper: A&A, in press

EPrint Server: astro-ph/0112029


Abstract:

IRS 13E is an infrared, mm and X-ray source in the Galactic Centre. We present the first Chandra X-ray spectrum for IRS 13E and show that it is consistent with a luminous and highly absorbed X-ray binary system. Since the X-ray luminosity is too large for a solitary star, our interpretation is that of an early-type long-period binary with strong colliding winds emission. This naturally explains the observed X-ray spectrum and count rate as well as its lack of significant short term variability. Due to the short lifetime of any nebula 0.2 pc from the putative central super-massive black-hole, we argue that the primary of IRS 13E has exited the LBV phase in the last few thousand years.


Preprints available from the authors at robc@ast.leeds.ac.uk , or the raw TeX (no figures) if you click here.

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