Abstract
The extended non-thermal radio sources G357.7–0.1 and G5.3–1.0 in the galactic bulge have about the same energy content in the form of relativistic particles and magnetic fields as the brightest ordinary supernova remnants (original energy input ∼1050.5 erg), but differ from the latter in having a marked axial symmetry1,2. Their surface brightness gradually fades away towards one end of the symmetry axis, and at the opposite end one finds a compact radio source. The recently discovered radio source G18.95–1.1 (ref. 3) may belong to the same category. Helfand and Becker4 have argued that these structural properties can be explained most plausibly if these ‘remnants’ were produced by the ejection of matter with high kinetic energy by accreting binary systems at a rate ≫1037 erg s−1, the ejection lasting for several times 105 yr while the systems were travelling through the interstellar medium with a speed of ∼100 km s−1. We show here that the only type of neutron star binary that can fulfil both the condition of longevity and of a continuous high-mass transfer rate is a relatively wide binary in which the companion of the neutron star is a low-mass giant, with an orbital period of the order of weeks to months. Binaries of this type are expected to resemble closely the eight brightest galactic bulge X-ray sources5,6 as well as the progenitors of the two wide radio pulsar binaries7–9.
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de Kool, M., van den Heuvel, E. A wide low-mass binary model for the origin of axially symmetric non-thermal radio sources. Nature 317, 599–601 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/317599a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/317599a0
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