Chemical abundances of secondary stars in low mass X-ray binaries

Abstract

AbstractLow mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) offer us an unique opportunity to study the formation processes of compact objects. Secondary stars orbiting around either a black hole or a neutron star could have captured a significant amount of the ejected matter in the supernova explosions that most likely originated the compact objects. The detailed chemical analysis of these companions can provide valuable information on the parameters involved in the supernova explosion such us the mass cut, the amount of fall-back matter, possible mixing processes, and the energy and the symmetry of the explosion. In addition, this analysis can help us to find out the birth place of the binary system. We have measured element abundances of secondary stars in the LMXBs A0620–00, Cen X-4, XTE J1118+480 and Nova Sco 94. We find solar or above solar metalicity for all these systems, what appears to be independent on their locations with respect to the Galactic plane. A comparison of the observed abundances with yields from different supernova explosion together with the kinematic properties of these systems suggest a supernova origin for the compact objects in all of them except for A0620–00, for which a direct collapse cannot be discarded.