Journal
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Volume 464, Issue 1, Pages L41-L45Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/mnrasl/slw172
Keywords
accretion, accretion discs; stars: neutron; X-rays: binaries
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Funding
- Fundacion La Caixa
- Spanish Ministerio de Economia y competitividad (MINECO) [AYA2013-42627]
- Leverhulme Trust [VP2-2015-046]
- ESO telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory [085.D-0271]
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The low-mass X-ray binary Aquila X-1 is one of the most active neutron star X-ray transients. Despite its relatively bright quiescent optical counterpart, the detection of its companion has been hampered by the presence of a nearby interloper star. Using the Spectrograph for INtegral Field Observations in the Near Infrared (SINFONI) on the Very Large Telescope8.2m telescope, we unambiguously single out Aquila X-1 from the interloper. Phase-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy reveals absorption features from a K4 +/- 2 companion star moving at a projected velocity of K-2 = 136 +/- 4 kms(-1). We here present the first dynamical solution and associated fundamental parameters of Aquila X-1, imposing new constraints on the orbital inclination (36 degrees < i < 47 degrees) and the distance (d = 6 +/- 2 kpc) to this prototypical neutron star transient.
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