Abstract
We use very long baseline interferometry to measure the proper motions of three black hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs). Using these results together with data from the literature and Gaia DR2 to ...collate the best available constraints on proper motion, parallax, distance, and systemic radial velocity of 16 BHXBs, we determined their three-dimensional Galactocentric orbits. We extended this analysis to estimate the probability distribution for the potential kick velocity (PKV) a BHXB system could have received on formation. Constraining the kicks imparted to BHXBs provides insight into the birth mechanism of black holes (BHs). Kicks also have a significant effect on BH–BH merger rates, merger sites, and binary evolution, and can be responsible for spin–orbit misalignment in BH binary systems. 75 per cent of our systems have potential kicks $\gt 70\, \rm {km\,s^{-1}}$. This suggests that strong kicks and hence spin–orbit misalignment might be common among BHXBs, in agreement with the observed quasi-periodic X-ray variability in their power density spectra. We used a Bayesian hierarchical methodology to analyse the PKV distribution of the BHXB population, and suggest that a unimodal Gaussian model with a mean of 107 $\pm \,\,16\, \rm {km\,s^{-1}}$ is a statistically favourable fit. Such relatively high PKVs would also reduce the number of BHs likely to be retained in globular clusters. We found no significant correlation between the BH mass and PKV, suggesting a lack of correlation between BH mass and the BH birth mechanism. Our python code allows the estimation of the PKV for any system with sufficient observational constraints.
We report the detection of steady radio emission from the known X-ray source X9 in the globular cluster 47 Tuc. With a double-peaked C iv emission line in its ultraviolet spectrum providing a clear ...signature of accretion, this source had been previously classified as a cataclysmic variable. In deep ATCA (Australia Telescope Compact Array) imaging from 2010 and 2013, we identified a steady radio source at both 5.5 and 9.0 GHz, with a radio spectral index (defined as S
ν ∝ να) of α = −0.4 ± 0.4. Our measured flux density of 42 ± 4 μJy beam−1 at 5.5 GHz implies a radio luminosity (νL
ν) of 5.8 × 1027 erg s−1, significantly higher than any previous radio detection of an accreting white dwarf. Transitional millisecond pulsars, which have the highest radio-to-X-ray flux ratios among accreting neutron stars (still a factor of a few below accreting black holes at the same L
X), show distinctly different patterns of X-ray and radio variability than X9. When combined with archival X-ray measurements, our radio detection places 47 Tuc X9 very close to the radio/X-ray correlation for accreting black holes, and we explore the possibility that this source is instead a quiescent stellar-mass black hole X-ray binary. The nature of the donor star is uncertain; although the luminosity of the optical counterpart is consistent with a low-mass main-sequence donor star, the mass transfer rate required to produce the high quiescent X-ray luminosity of 1033 erg s−1 suggests the system may instead be ultracompact, with an orbital period of order 25 min. This is the fourth quiescent black hole candidate discovered to date in a Galactic globular cluster, and the only one with a confirmed accretion signature from its optical/ultraviolet spectrum.
Abstract
We have performed a comprehensive spectral and timing analyses of Galactic black hole transients (GBHTs) during outburst decay in order to obtain the distribution of state transition ...luminosities. Using the archival data of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), we have calculated the weighted mean for state transition luminosities of 11 BH sources in 19 different outbursts and for disc and power law luminosities separately. We also produced histograms of these luminosities in terms of Eddington luminosity fraction (ELF) and fitted them with a Gaussian. Our results show the tightest clustering in bolometric power law luminosity with a mean logarithmic ELF of −1.70 ± 0.21 during the index transition (as the photon index starts to decrease towards the hard state). We obtained mean logarithmic ELF of −1.80 ± 0.25 during the transition to the hard state (as the photon index reaches the lowest value) and −1.50 ± 0.32 for disc-blackbody luminosity (DBB) during the transition to the hard-intermediate state (HIMS). We discussed the reasons for clustering and possible explanations for sources that show a transition luminosity significantly below or above the general trends.
White dwarfs are often found in binary systems with orbital periods ranging from tens of minutes to hours in which they can accrete gas from their companion stars. In about 15 per cent of these ...binaries, the magnetic field of the white dwarf is strong enough (at 10
gauss or more) to channel the accreted matter along field lines onto the magnetic poles. The remaining systems are referred to as 'non-magnetic', because until now there has been no evidence that they have a magnetic field that is strong enough to affect the accretion dynamics. Here we report an analysis of archival optical observations of the 'non-magnetic' accreting white dwarf in the binary system MV Lyrae, whose light curve displays quasi-periodic bursts of about 30 minutes duration roughly every 2 hours. The timescale and amplitude of these bursts indicate the presence of an unstable, magnetically regulated accretion mode, which in turn implies the existence of magnetically gated accretion, in which disk material builds up around the magnetospheric boundary (at the co-rotation radius) and then accretes onto the white dwarf, producing bursts powered by the release of gravitational potential energy. We infer a surface magnetic field strength for the white dwarf in MV Lyrae of between 2 × 10
gauss and 1 × 10
gauss, too low to be detectable by other current methods. Our discovery provides a new way of studying the strength and evolution of magnetic fields in accreting white dwarfs and extends the connections between accretion onto white dwarfs, young stellar objects and neutron stars, for which similar magnetically gated accretion cycles have been identified.
Full text
Available for:
IJS, KISLJ, NUK, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
X-ray Swift observations of SN 2018cow Rivera Sandoval, L E; Maccarone, T J; Corsi, A ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Letters,
10/2018, Volume:
480, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Abstract Supernova (SN) 2018cow is an optical transient detected in the galaxy CGCG 137–068. It has been classified as an SN due to various characteristics in its optical spectra. The transient is ...also a bright X-ray source. We present results of the analysis of ∼62 ks of X-ray observations taken with the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory over 27 d. We found a variable behaviour in the 0.3–10 keV X-ray light curve of SN 2018cow, with variability time-scales of days. The observed X-ray variability could be due to the interaction between the SN ejecta and a non-uniform circumstellar medium, perhaps related to previous mass ejections from a luminous-blue-variable-like progenitor.
ABSTRACT Using the Very Long Baseline Array and the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network, we have made a precise measurement of the radio parallax of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI ...J1820+070, providing a model-independent distance to the source. Our parallax measurement of (0.348 ± 0.033) mas for MAXI J1820+070 translates to a distance of (2.96 ± 0.33) kpc. This distance implies that the source reached (15 ± 3) per cent of the Eddington luminosity at the peak of its outburst. Further, we use this distance to refine previous estimates of the jet inclination angle, jet velocity, and the mass of the black hole in MAXI J1820+070 to be (63 ± 3)°, (0.89 ± 0.09) c, and (9.2 ± 1.3) M⊙, respectively.
We tabulate the luminosities of the soft-to-hard state transitions of all X-ray binaries for which there exist good X-ray flux measurements at the time of the transition, good distance estimates, and ...good mass estimates for the compact star. We show that the state transition luminosities are at about 1–4% of the Eddington rate, markedly smaller than those typically quoted in the literature, with a mean value of 2%. Only the black hole candidate GRO J 1655-40 and the neutron star systems Aql X-1 and 4U 1728-34 have measured state transition luminosities inconsistent with this value at the 1σ level. GRO J 1655-40, in particular, shows a state transition luminosity below the mean value for the other sources at the $4\sigma$ level. This result, combined with the known inner disk inclination angle (the disk is nearly parallel to the line of sight) from GRO J 1655-40's relativistic jets suggest that the hard X-ray emitting region in GRO J 1655-40 can have a velocity of no more than about $\beta=0.68$, with a most likely value of about $\beta=0.52$, and a minimum speed of $\beta=0.45$, assuming that the variations in state transition luminosities are solely due to relativistic beaming effects. The variance in the state transition luminosities suggests an emission region with a velocity of ~0.2c. The results are discussed in terms of different emission models for the low/hard state. We also discuss the implications for measuring the dimensionless viscosity parameter α. We also find that if its state transitions occur at typical luminosities, then GX 339-4 is likely to be at a distance of at least 7.6 kpc, much further than typically quoted estimates.
Full text
Available for:
FMFMET, NUK, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
We investigate the lack of observed low-mass black hole binary systems at short periods(<4 h) by comparing the observed orbital period distribution of 17 confirmed low-mass black hole X-ray ...binaries (BHXBs) with their implied period distribution after correcting for the effects of extinction of the optical counterpart, absorption of the X-ray outburst and the probability of detecting a source in outburst. We also draw samples from two simple orbital period distributions and compare the simulated and observed orbital period distributions. We predict that there are >200 and <3000 binaries in the Galaxy with periods between 2 and 3 h, with an additional ≈600 objects between 3 and 10 h.
ABSTRACT
We present the results of bicoherence analysis on observations of GRS 1915+105 that exhibit quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs). The bicoherence is a higher order statistic that can be used ...to probe the relation between the phases of a triplet of Fourier frequencies. Despite showing very similar power spectra, the observations exhibit different patterns in their bicoherence, indicating that the QPOs are phase coupled to the noise in different ways. We show that the bicoherence pattern exhibited correlates with the frequency of the QPO, the hardness ratio, as well as the radio properties of the source. In particular, we find that the nature of phase coupling between the QPO and the high and low frequency broad-band components is different between radio quiet, radio plateau, and radio steep conditions. We also investigate the phase lag behaviour of observations with QPO frequency above 2 Hz that show different bicoherence patterns and find statistically significant differences between them, indicating a change in the underlying physical mechanism. Finally, we present a scenario whereby the cooling of the jet electrons by soft photons from the accretion disc could explain the observed correlations between the bicoherence and radio properties.
Abstract
We present our analysis of the Type II supernova DLT16am (SN 2016ija). The object was discovered during the ongoing
(DLT40) one-day cadence supernova search at
in the “edge-on” nearby (
) ...galaxy NGC 1532. The subsequent prompt and high-cadenced spectroscopic and photometric follow-up revealed a highly extinguished transient, with
, consistent with a standard extinction law with
R
V
= 3.1 and a bright (
) absolute peak magnitude. A comparison of the photometric features with those of large samples of SNe II reveals a fast rise for the derived luminosity and a relatively short plateau phase, with a slope of
, consistent with the photometric properties typical of those of fast-declining SNe II. Despite the large uncertainties on the distance and the extinction in the direction of DLT16am, the measured photospheric expansion velocity and the derived absolute
V
-band magnitude at
after the explosion match the existing luminosity–velocity relation for SNe II.
PDF
