X-ray dip monitoring of XB 1916-053

We report on the long-term monitoring of X-ray dips from the ultracompact low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) XB 1916-053. Roughly one-month interval observations were carried out with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) during 1996, during which the source varied between dim, hard states and more luminous, soft states. The dip spectra and dip light curves were compared against both the broadband luminosity and the derived mass accretion rate (M^̇). The dips spectra could be fitted by an absorbed blackbody plus cutoff power-law nondip spectral model, with additional absorption ranging from 0 to > 100 × 10²² cm^-2. The amount of additional blackbody absorption was found to vary with the source luminosity. Our results are consistent with an obscuration of the inner disk region by a partially ionized outer disk. The size of the corona, derived from the dip ingress times, was found to be ∼10⁹ cm. The corona size did not correlate with the coronal temperature, but seemed to increase when M ^̇ also increased. We discuss our findings in the context of an evaporated accretion disk corona model and an ADAF-type model.