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Intensity transitions in Cyg XR-1 observed at high energies from OSO 8

Abstract

THE high energy X-ray source, Cygnus XR-1, exhibits a variable intensity between states which differ in flux at lower energies (typically 3 to 6 keV) by a factor of three (refs 1–5). Although the transitions between these ‘high’ and ‘low’ flux states occur at irregular intervals, the transition itself usually takes no more than one day in either direction. We report here an observation of such a transition at energies above 20 keV which shows that the spectrum of Cyg XR-1 exhibits the pivoting effect during intensity transitions expected from two-temperature accretion disk models of the X-ray emitting region6,7.

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DOLAN, J., CRANNELL, C., DENNIS, B. et al. Intensity transitions in Cyg XR-1 observed at high energies from OSO 8. Nature 267, 813–815 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/267813a0

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