Abstract

Cen X-3 is probably a neutron star, releasing the infall energy of accreted matter. Sufficient material for accretion will be provided by a conventional stellar wind from its more massive companion star. That star is not likely to rotate synchronously; therefore a ‘Roche lobe’ analysis of the eclipses is not valid. A ‘tidal lobe’ analysis allows the neutron star to have a mass of the order of one solar mass. Overflow of the ‘Roche lobe’ is neither necessary as a source of mass nor probable in view of the observed stellar line widths of the two identified X-ray companions.

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