X-ray binaries are a class of binary stars that are luminous in X-rays. The X-rays are produced by matter falling from one component, called the donor (usually a relatively common main sequence star), to the other component, called the accretor, which is either a neutron star or black hole. The infalling matter releases gravitational potential energy, up to 30 percent of its rest mass, as X-rays. (Hydrogen fusion releases only about 0.7 percent of rest mass.) The lifetime and the mass-transfer rate in an X-ray binary depends on the evolutionary status of the donor star, the mass ratio between the stellar components, and their orbital separation.[1]
An estimated 1041 positrons escape per second from a typical low-mass X-ray binary.[2][3]
- ^ Tauris, Thomas M.; van den Heuvel, Ed (2006). "Chapter 16: Formation and evolution of compact stellar X-ray sources". In Lewin, Walter; van der Klis, Michiel (eds.). Compact Stellar X-ray Sources. Cambridge Astrophysics Series. Vol. 39. pp. 623–665. arXiv:astro-ph/0303456. Bibcode:2006csxs.book..623T. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511536281.017. ISBN 978-0-521-82659-4. S2CID 18856214.
- ^ Weidenspointner, Georg (2008). "An asymmetric distribution of positrons in the Galactic disk revealed by gamma-rays". Nature. 451 (7175): 159–62. Bibcode:2008Natur.451..159W. doi:10.1038/nature06490. PMID 18185581. S2CID 4333175.
- ^ "Mystery of Antimatter Source Solved – Maybe" by John Borland 2008