Bibcode
Zurita, C.; Casares, J.; Shahbaz, T.; Charles, P. A.; Hynes, R. I.; Shugarov, S.; Goransky, V.; Pavlenko, E. P.; Kuznetsova, Y.
Referencia bibliográfica
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 316, Issue 1, pp. 137-142.
Fecha de publicación:
7
2000
Número de citas
27
Número de citas referidas
25
Descripción
We present optical photometry of the X-ray transient XTE J2123-058,
obtained in 1998 July-October. The light curves are strongly modulated
on the 5.95-h orbital period, and exhibit dramatic changes in amplitude
and form during the decline. We used synthetic models, which include the
effect of partial eclipses and X-ray heating effects, to estimate the
system parameters, and we constrain the binary inclination to be
i=73°+/-4. The model is successful in reproducing the light curves
at different stages of the decay by requiring the accretion disc to
become smaller and thinner by 30per cent as the system fades by 1.7mag
in the optical. From August 26 the system reaches quiescence with a mean
magnitude of R=21.7+/-0.1 and our data are consistent with the optical
variability being dominated by the ellipsoidal modulation of the
companion.