IGR J18483-0311


Other name =

Type Companion/ P orb/ P spin Radio Counterpart Infrared Counterpart
R.A. (J2000) Dec. (J2000) References (position) R.A. (J2000) Dec. (J2000) References (position)
SFXT with Pulsar B0.5-1 Iab / 18.5d / 21.05s (see however Ducci et al. 2013) 18h 48m 17.2s -03o 10' 16.5" Sguera et al. 2007, A&A
Published Papers
Miscellaneous :

Levine et al.ATel 940:
    Period of 18.55+- 0.05 d in RXTE/ASM light curve
Sguera et al. 2007 (accepted in A&A):
  • Identify 5 new outbursts in all INTEGRAL archival data
  • 3-50 keV spectrum absorbed cut-off power law
  • NH=9 x1022 cm-2, Gamma=1.4 and Ecut=22 keV.
  • Absorbed bremsstrahlung provide good fits with Nh~7.5e22 cm-2 and kT~21.5 keV, valid for all 5 outbursts
  • Discovery of a period of 18.52+-0.01 days= orbital period of the system
  • Pulse period (from the JEM-X data) of 21.0526+-0.0005s with a pulse fraction of 65+-10%.
  • Swift spectra absorbed power laws with Gamma=1.7 and 1.3 and NH = 6.3e22 and 4.8e22 cm-2 for the 1st and 2nd observation repsectively
  • Identify an Optical counterpart from the USNO-B1.0 catalogue with magnitudes R=19.26, I=15.32, J=10.74, H=9.29, K=8.46.
  • Source contains a pulsar with a spin of 21.0526s
  • highly redenned Optical counterpart suggestthe source is a HMXB.
  • Likely Be system by its position in a Corbet diagram
  • SFXT is not ruled out
Masetti et al. 2008:
  • Optical spectroscopy is presented and detailed
  • Hα in emission
  • OB Giant
Chaty et al. 2008:
  • Optical and infrared observations
  • 2MASS source possibly blended with another faint source
  • J=10.77, H=9.21, Ks=8.39
  • SED fitting => T*=22500 K, typical of B star
  • d from 0.9 to 2.7 kpc if source is main sequence, sub giant or super giant
  • near IR excess => disk/wind as in massive star
  • cannot conclude on sg or Be but definitely an HMXB
Rahoui & Chaty 2008:
  • Optical and near infrared observations of IGR J18483-0311.
  • Spectroscopic analysis + identifications of several emission and absorption line classify the companion star as a B0.5 Ia supergiant.
  • Not a Be X-ray binary as had been suggested before
  • Fitt of the SED =>temperature of 24 600 K and estimate a distance to the source of 3-4 kpc.
  • Supergiant Fast X-ray Transient, with peculiar characteristics
  • Probably has a small and eccentric orbit.
Giunta et al. 2009:
  • XMM-Newton (orb. phase 0.52), Chandra (orb. phase 0.24) and Swift (orb. phase 0.67) observations during quiescence
  • Refined X-ray position compatible with optical counterpart
  • 0.5-10 keV XMM/EPIC-PN spectrum fitted with an absorbed power law: NH=7.7 x 1022 cm-2 and Γ=2.5
  • Upper limits on equivalent widths of lines at 6.4 and 6.7 keV are 0.17 and 0.10 keV, respectively
  • Swift spectrum fitted with absorbed power law: NH=6.0 x 1022 cm-2 Γ=1.4
  • 3-7-sigma detection of a spin period of 21.033s from XMM/PN data with a pulse fraction ~15% with a sinusoidal profile
  • Variations in the spin period: they measure a spin-period derivative of -1.3(3)x10^-9 s/s unknown origin for change of spin period, believe that due to light travel time effects
  • Changes in the X-ray flux could be due to changes in the accretion rate rather than due to eclipsing events
Romano et al. 2009:
  • Swift => first (nearly-)continuous observation over an entire orbital period
  • Quiescent luminosity of 2.3e33 erg/s, a factor 1200 lower than the peak luminosity
  • Nosignificant change in spectral parameters (other than in the blackbody radius) wrt the orbital phase
  • BB radius ~ few hundred meters =>emission occurs very near the surface (e.g. magnetic poles)
  • Longterm lightcurve explained by the accretion of a homogeneous and spherically-symmetric wind along a highly-eccentric orbit
  • Large variations on short timescales <=>accretion of an isotropic clumpy wind with clumps ranging in mass from 1e18 to 5e21 g.
Torrejón et al. 2009:
  • Optical spectroscopy
  • Companion is a Sg B0.5-B1 star luminosity class likely Iab
  • =>distance 2.8 kpc
Sguera et al. 2010:
  • Archival XMM and INTEGRAL observations
  • XMM observation taken at the lowest X-ray flux ever reported => quiescent emission.
  • Absorbed black body to represent spectrum
  • Overall XMM+INTEGRAL spectrum well fitted by an absorbed black body with a power law component: kT=1.40 keV, Gamma=2.0, NH=3.4 x 1022 cm-2.
  • Possible detection of a cyclotron emission feature at 3.3 keV
  • =>Leads to B~3-4e11 G,compatible with value derived with alternative method.
Wang & Chang 2012 (A&A):
  • Study retrograde wind accretion scenario
  • => spin and orbital period => R corrotation ~ 0.16e9 cm and source is a retrograde propeller
Ducci et al. 2013 (A&A):
  • INTEGRAL observations over 2003-2010
  • 15 outburst including 7 never reported before detected
  • Refined timing analysis => no significant periodicity in the INTEGRAL obs.
  • Re-analysis of XMM data -> 21s prob. due to statistical fluctuations
  • Spectra in outburst well fitted by thermal and bulk Comptonization of bb seed photons.
Sguera et al. 2015 (MNRAS):
  • INTEGRAL archival + new XMM-Newton observations
  • A new unusually long X-ray activity (3-60 keV) discovered, lasted about 60% (11 d) of the orbit of the system
  • Re-analysis of INTEGRAL data confirm non-significance of a potential hard tail (> 80 keV)
  • XMM did not detect strong activity at close to periastron, but standard intermediate state, with L~ 3e33 erg/s

Last updated 25 Feb 2015

Jerome Rodriguez