@article{BozzoOskinovaLobeletal.2017, author = {Bozzo, Enrico and Oskinova, Lida and Lobel, A. and Hamann, Wolf-Rainer}, title = {The super-orbital modulation of supergiant high-mass X-ray binaries}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, volume = {606}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, organization = {LIGO Sci Collaboration \& Virgo;Fermi GBM;INTERGRAL;IceCube Collaboration;AstroSat Cadmium Zinc Telluride;IPN Collaboration;Insight-Hxmt Collaboration;ANTARES Collaboration;Swift Collaboration;AGILE Team;The 1M2H Team;Dark Energy Camera GW-EM;DLT40 Collaboration;GRAWITA GRAvitational Wave;Fermi Large Area Telescope;ATCA Australia Telescope;ASKAP Australian SKA Pathfinder;Las Cumbres Observatory Grp;OzGrav DWF Deeper Wider Faster;VINROUGE Collaboration;MASTER Collaboration;J-GEM;GROWTH JAGWAR CALTECH;Pan-STARRS;MAXI Team;TZAC Consortium;KU Collaboration;Nordic Optical Telescope;ePESSTO;GROUND;Texas Tech Univ;Salt Grp;Toros Transient Robotic Observat;BOOTES Collaboration;MWA Murchison Widefield Array;CALET Collaboration;IKI-GW Follow-up Collaboration;H E S S Collaboration;LOFAR Collaboration;LWA Long Wavelength Array;HAWC Collaboration;Pierre Auger Collaboration;ALMA Collaboration;Euro VLBI Team;Pi Sky Collaboration;Chandra Team McGill Univ;DFN Desert Fireball Network;ATLAS;High Time Resolution Universe;RIMAS RATIR;SKA South Africa MeerKAT}, issn = {1432-0746}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201731930}, pages = {4}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The long-term X-ray light curves of classical supergiant X-ray binaries and supergiant fast X-ray transients show relatively similar super-orbital modulations, which are still lacking a sound interpretation. We propose that these modulations are related to the presence of corotating interaction regions (CIRs) known to thread the winds of OB supergiants. To test this hypothesis, we couple the outcomes of three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic models for the formation of CIRs in stellar winds with a simplified recipe for the accretion onto a neutron star. The results show that the synthetic X-ray light curves are indeed modulated by the presence of the CIRs. The exact period and amplitude of these modulations depend on a number of parameters governing the hydrodynamic wind models and on the binary orbital configuration. To compare our model predictions with the observations, we apply the 3D wind structure previously shown to well explain the appearance of discrete absorption components in the UV time series of a prototypical B0.5I-type supergiant. Using the orbital parameters of IGRJ 16493-4348, which has the same B0.5I donor spectral type, the period and modulations in the simulated X-ray light curve are similar to the observed ones, thus providing support to our scenario. We propose that the presence of CIRs in donor star winds should be considered in future theoretical and simulation efforts of wind-fed X-ray binaries.}, language = {en} }