An analysis of the precession of the accretion disk of Hercules X-1

Journal Article · Mon May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1989 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/167412· OSTI ID:5856491

Qiao, Guojun; Cheng, Jiuheng

Hercules X-1 exhibits a 35 day cycle in its X-ray intensity and 1.24 s and 1.7 day periodicities in its pulsar rotation and orbit, respectively. The features of the 35 day clock and the presence of a precessing tilted accretion disk have been discussed by many authors. A ring of matter at a given radius in the accretion disk will precess if it is tilted relative to the orbital plane. Under the assumption of a uniform precession of the disk, the periodic perturbation of the uniform precession has been analyzed by Levine and Jernigan. In this paper a complete expression is presented for both uniform and perturbed precession of the disk. The result is compared with observations, and it is in agreement with the analysis of the observations given in the literature. 27 refs.

• Research Organization: Beijing Univ. (People's Republic of China)
• OSTI ID: 5856491
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 340; ISSN ASJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCRETION DISKS
BINARY STARS
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
MASS TRANSFER
MOTION
NOVAE
ORBITS
OSCILLATIONS
PRECESSION
PULSARS
ROTATION
STARS
VARIABLE STARS