Multiwavelength Analysis of Two Peculiar High Mass X-Ray Binary Systems: 4U 2206+54 and SAX J2103.5+4545 New Insights from INTEGRAL
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Multiwavelength Analysis of two Peculiar High Mass X-Ray Binary Systems: 4U 2206+54 and SAX J2103.5+4545 New insights from INTEGRAL Pere Blay PhD Thesis February, 2006 5 UMI Number: U607767 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U607767 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 UNWERSITAT DE VALENCIA . BIBLIOTECA CrflNCIES N° Registrs DATA ...22:/5% /H S .... SIGNATURA ' * ~ T b ~ T / S 2 g N° LIBIS; c\f9C9€>ro* After the plane took off, my brother showed me a piece of scientific ap paratus which he had brought along. It was a photoelectric cell connected to a small tape recorder. He aimed the electric eye at clouds. It perceived lightning flashes which were invisible to us in the dazzle of daytime. The secret flashes were recorded as clicks by the recorder. We could also hear the clicks as they happened - on a tiny earphone. ’’There’s a hot one,” my brother announced. He indicated a distant cumulus cloud, a seeming Pike’s Peak of whipped cream. He let me listen to the clicks. There were two quick ones, then some silence, then three quick ones, then silence again. ’’How far away is that cloud?” I asked him. ”Oh - a hundred miles, maybe,” he said. I thought it was beautiful that my big brother could detect secrets so simply from so far away. Kurt Vonnegut, in S lap stick Dr. Pablo Reig Torres, investigador del Skinakas Observatory (University of Crete and Foundation for Research & Technology - HELLAS, Grecia), CERTIFICA: Que la present memoria, ’’Multiwavelength Analysis of two peculiar High Mass X-Ray Binary systems: 4U 2206+54 and SAX J2103.5+4545. New insights from INTEGRAL”, ha sigut realitzada sota la seua direccio, per Pere Blay Serrano, i que constitueix la seua tesi doctoral per tal d’optar al grau de Doctor en Ffsica. I per tal que quede constancia i tinga els efectes que corresponga, signa el present certificat en Valencia, a 1 d’Octubre de 2005. Signat: Pablo Reig Torres Dr. Ignacio Negueruela Dfez, investigador de la Universitat d’Alacant, CERTIFICA: Que la present memoria, ’’Multiwavelength Analysis of two peculiar High Mass X-Ray Binary systems: 4U 2206+54 and SAX J2103.5+4545. New insights from INTEGRAL”, ha sigut realitzada sota la seua direccio, per Pere Blay Serrano, i que constitueix la seua tesi doctoral per tal d’optar al grau de Doctor en Fisica. I per tal que quede constancia i tinga els efectes que corresponga, signa el present certifica en Valencia, a 1 d’Octubre de 2005. Signat: Ignacio Negueruela Diez Dr. Victor Reglero, catedratic de la Universitat de Valencia, CERTIFICA: Que la present memoria, ” Multiwavelength Analysis of two peculiar High Mass X-Ray Binary systems: 4U 2206+54 and SAX J2103.5+4545. New insights from INTEGRAL”, ha sigut realitzada sota la seua direccio, per Pere Blay Serrano, i que constitueix la seua tesi doctoral per tal d’optar al grau de Doctor en Fisica. I per tal que quede constancia i tinga els efectes que corresponga, signa el present certificat en Valencia, a 1 d’Octubre de 2005. Para Irene y Maribel, el amor en nuestras vidas. To Irene and Maribel, for the love in our lives. Acknowledgments / Agraiments It was seven years ago when I sat down in front of a computer to analyse for the very first time the spectrum of a Be star. I was in charge to confirm the spectral classification of the optical counterpart to LS5039, now known to be a microquasar. Like LS5039, data from many other sources kept me busy all along these years. I was lucky to be able to treat such a large amount of data, thanks to all the people who shared their data and/or knowledge with me and also thanks to all the resources available in the Internet. From that heap of data this thesis work arose. I want to thank my thesis supervisors, Ignacio, Pablo and Victor, for all the support and all the collaborations from long before they became my thesis supervisors. Without Pablo’s and Ignacio’s guidance the scientific course I have followed would not have been so straightforward. Victor always supplied funding for everything I needed, and optimism to push me on the adventure of researching new fields. The results of this work would not have been possible without collabo rations with many individuals. The excellent work of Silvia Martinez with JEM-X data, and the thorough, detailed, and accurate work of Choni (As cension Camero) and Paul Connell with SPI data, are a very important part of this thesis work. Thanks a lot to them all. Let us hope we can go on sharing data, work, results, comments, etc., for a very long time. The working atmosphere is also a very important part of everyday routine. Thanks to the very nice people in the GACE, this atmosphere was (also is; and surely will be) always the best. Hand shakes for all GACE people, the ones presently active and the ones who were part of it in the past (still part of it in the minds and hearts of many of us). Related to science, I also need to thank those who helped me in many issues, which may seem unimportant but which pushed a lot my work. Thanks to people like C. Allard, T. Marsh, M. Bly, L. Georgiev, P. Dufton, N. Produit, P. Kretschmar, A. Herrero, and many others who shared pieces of software and/or knowledge that solved some of the problems I found in my way. Thanks also to M. Ribo for the long conversations on the phone about scientific topics, they helped me a lot to focus in the actual problems and not to loose time with distractions. During the last two years, the more intense ones in terms of work related to the thesis, Maribel was the one who has most bore with me. She was always so patient as to listen to my boring tales about work, to push me to go further on, and to share with me all her love and care. There are not enough words to give thanks for that. Now we are three, i.e., I am three times more happy and infinite times more thankful. Thanks also to my two families, the old (my parents, my brothers and my sister) and new ones (Maribel’s family). They all make many hard times more bearable and smoother. And the most interesting thing, they all have always believed in me, even in this unstable world of science. Last, but not least, thanks to Ricard, Pau, Miquel, Ivan, Lluis, Pep, Hector for the very good past and present times, for the laughs and the talks, for the beers and the trips, and for being friends. Thanks (for forgiving me) to all the ones who I should thank, but i didn’t, surely they will know how much forgettable i can be. A last word of thanks for the three referees of this thesis: J. Casares, P. Kretschmar and M. Ribo, and to Rudiger Staubert, for all the patience and dedication in reading carefully this work and sending a whole bunch of useful and interesting comments and corrections. They all have helped a lot to improve the scientific quality of this work. Va ser set anys enrera quan, per primera vegada, vaig seure davant d’un ordinador per tal d’analitzar l’espectre d’un estel Be. Aquell estel era LS5039, del qual es sabut ara que es tracta d ’un microquasar. La tasca encomanda va ser la confirmacio de la classificacio espectral de l’objecte. Dades de molts mes objectes m’han mantigut ocupat all llarg de tots aquests anys. Vaig tindre sort de poder accedir a una quantitat molt gran de dades, grades a totes les persones que han compartit amb mi dades i/o coneixements i grades a tots els recursos que es poden trobar a la xarxa. El meu treball de tesi ha emergit de tot aquest munto de dades. Vull donar les grades als meus supervisors, Ignacio, Pablo i Victor, per tot el recolzament i totes les colaboracions dutes a terme, des de molt abans de convertir-se en els meus supervisors. Sense el guiatge d’Ignacio i Pablo, el meu rumb cientffic no haguera estat tant ben encaminat. Victor sempre ha aportat fons per a tot alio que he necessitat, i el seu optimisme ha sigut sempre una espenta per a sumergir-me en l’aventura de la recerca. Els resultats d’aquest treball de tesi no hagueren sigut possibles sense colaboracions amb moltes persones. El treball exceMent de Silvia Martinez amb les dades de JEM-X, i la minuciositat, el detallisme i la precissio del treball de Choni (Ascension Camero) i Paul Connel amb les dades d’SPI, son una part molt important d’aquest treball. Grades als tres. Esperem que puguem continuar compartint dades, treball, resultats, comentaris, etc., per molt mes temps. L’ambient de treball es molt important a l’hora d’enfrontar-se a la rutina diaria.