Five Years in the Life of Cygnus X-1: BATSE Long-Term Monitoring

Abstract

The hard X-ray emission from Cygnus X-1 has been monitored continually by BATSE since the launch of CGRO in April 1991. We present the hard X-ray intensity and spectral history of the source covering a period of more than five years. Power spectral analysis shows a significant peak at the binary orbital period. The 20-100 keV orbital light curve is roughly sinusoidal with a minimum near superior conjunction of the X-ray source and an rms modulation fraction of approximately 1.7%. No longer-term periodicities are evident in the power spectrum. We compare our results with other observations and discuss the implications for models of the source geometry.

5 pages (aipproc LaTeX), 4 PostScript figures, to appear in Proceedings of the Fourth Compton Symposium, ed. C. D. Dermer, M. S. Strickman, and J. D. Kurfess, AIP Conf. Proc. 410 (New York: AIP), in press