Long-term periodicities in the flux from low mass X-ray binaries

Using data from the All Sky Monitor (ASM) on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), we have searched for long term periodicities in the X-ray flux of GX 1+4, Sco X-2 (GX 349+2), and GX 339-4. For GX 1+4, we also used data from BATSE and Galactic Centre scans performed by RXTE. We find no evidence for X-ray modulations at the suggested ∼304 d orbital period of GX 1+4. However, we find tentative evidence for a periodicity at 420-460 d. An upper limit of 15% peak-to-peak is set on any sinusoidal modulation in the 1.5-3.0 keV flux of Sco X-2 for periods in the 30-100 d range. For GX 339-4, we confirm the Low State modulation and report the detection of significant low-frequency modulations in both the High State and Very High State. We fail to detect this modulation in the Off State. We show that if the reported orbital period of GX 339-4 lies in the range 0.5-1.7 d, then it is not present in the RXTE ASM light curve. © 2005 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.