ABSTRACT Soft lags from the emission of the lower kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations (kHz QPOs) of neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries have been reported from 4U1608-522 and 4U1636-536. Those ...lags hold prospects for constraining the origin of the QPO emission. In this paper, we investigate the spectral-timing properties of both the lower and upper kHz QPOs from the neutron star binary 4U1728-34, using the entire Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer archive on this source. We show that the lag-energy spectra of the two QPOs are systematically different: while the lower kHz QPO shows soft lags, the upper kHz QPO shows either a flat lag-energy spectrum or hard variations lagging softer variations. This suggests two different QPO-generation mechanisms. We also performed the first spectral deconvolution of the covariance spectra of both kHz QPOs. The QPO spectra are consistent with Comptonized blackbody emission, similar to the one found in the time-averaged spectrum, but with a higher seed-photon temperature, suggesting that a more compact inner region of the Comptonization layer (boundary/spreading layer, corona) is responsible for the QPO emission. Considering our results together with other recent findings, this leads us to the hypothesis that the lower kHz QPO signal is generated by coherent oscillations of the compact boundary layer region itself. The upper kHz QPO signal may then be linked to less-coherent accretion-rate variations produced in the inner accretion disk, and is then detected when they reach the boundary layer.
We carry out classification of 4330 X-ray sources in the 2XMMi-DR3 catalog. They are selected under the requirement of being a point source with multiple XMM-Newton observations and at least one ...detection with the signal-to-noise ratio larger than 20. For about one-third of them we are able to obtain reliable source types from the literature. They mostly correspond to various types of stars (611), active galactic nuclei (AGNs, 753), and compact object systems (138) containing white dwarfs, neutron stars, and stellar-mass black holes. We find that about 99% of stars can be separated from other source types based on their low X-ray-to-IR flux ratios and frequent X-ray flares. AGNs have remarkably similar X-ray spectra, with the power-law photon index centered around 1.91 + or - 0.31, and their 0.2-1.5 keV flux long-term variation factors have a median of 1.48, with 98.5% being less than 10. In contrast, 70% of compact object systems can be very soft or hard, highly variable in X-rays, and/or have very large X-ray-to-IR flux ratios, separating them from AGNs. Using these results, we derive a source type classification scheme to classify the other sources and find 644 candidate stars, 1376 candidate AGNs, and 202 candidate compact object systems, whose false identification probabilities are estimated to be about 1%, 3%, and 18%, respectively. There are still 320 sources associated with nearby galaxies and 151 in the Galactic plane, which we expect to be mostly compact object systems or background AGNs. We also have 100 candidate ultraluminous X-ray sources. They are found to be much less variable than other accreting compact objects.
EXO1745-248 is a transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary located in the globular cluster Terzan 5. It was in outburst in 2000 and displayed during one Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observation a ...highly coherent quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) at frequencies between 670 and 715 Hz. Applying a maximum likelihood method to fit the X-ray power density spectrum, we show that the QPO can be detected on segments as short as T = 48 s. We report on the properties of its kHz QPOs detected between October 18 and October 23, soon after the source had moved from the so-called Atoll state to the Z state. Its QPOs are typical of persistent Z sources; in the sense that they have low Q factors (~30) and low rms amplitudes (~5%). The highest frequency, if orbital, sets a lower limit on the inner disk radius of ~18.5 km and an upper limit to the dipole moment of the magnetic field mu < or = 5 x 10sup 26 Gcmsup 3.
Ultraluminous X-ray sources are extragalactic objects located outside the nucleus of the host galaxy with bolometric luminosities exceeding 10 super(39)ergs super(-1). These extreme luminosities-if ...the emission is isotropic and below the theoretical (Eddington) limit, where the radiation pressure is balanced by the gravitational pressure-imply the presence of an accreting black hole with a mass of 610 super(2)-10 super(5) solar masses (). The existence of such intermediate-mass black holes is in dispute, and though many candidates have been proposed, none are widely accepted as definitive. Here we report the detection of a variable X-ray source with a maximum 0.2-10keV luminosity of up to 1.110 super(42)e rgs super(-1) in the edge-on spiral galaxy ESO243-49, with an implied conservative lower limit for the mass of the black hole of 6500.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We calculated carbon emissions associated with air travel of 4,834 participants at the 2019 annual conference of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH). Together, participants ...traveled a total of 27.7 million miles or 44.6 million kilometers. This equates to 58 return trips to the moon. Estimated carbon dioxide equivalent (CO
e) emissions were 8,646 metric tons or the total weekly carbon footprint of approximately 9,366 average American households. These emissions contribute to climate change and thus may exacerbate many of the global diseases that conference attendees seek to combat. Options to reduce conference travel-associated emissions include 1) alternating in-person and online conferences, 2) offering a hybrid in-person/online conference, and 3) decentralizing the conference with multiple conference venues. Decentralized ASTMH conferences may allow for up to 64% reduction in travel distance and 58% reduction in CO
e emissions. Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the clear association between global warming and global health, ways to reduce carbon emissions should be considered.
Ultra-fast outflows (UFOs) have been revealed in a large number of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in the past two decades. Their extreme velocities and high ionization states make them a promising ...candidate for AGN feedback on the evolution of the host galaxy. However, their exact underlying driving mechanism is not yet fully understood. Given that the variability of UFOs may be used to distinguish among different launching mechanisms, we aim to search for and characterize the responses of the UFO properties to the variable irradiating luminosity. We perform a high-resolution time- and flux-resolved spectroscopy of archival XMM-Newton observations on six highly accreting narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies, selected by UFO detection and sufficient exposure times. The state-of-the-art methods of the blind Gaussian line scan and photoionization model scan are used to identify UFO solutions. We search for ionized winds and investigate the structure of ionized winds and their responses to the luminosity variations. The location, density, and kinetic energy of UFOs are estimated as well. The powerful photoionization model scan reveals three previously unreported UFOs in RE J1034+396, PG 1244+026 and I ZW 1 with a detection significance above $3 and two new warm absorbers (WAs) in RE J1034+396. Five out of six (83<!PCT!>) AGN in our sample host multi-phase ionized winds, where outflows in I ZW 1 are energy-conserved. The relatively low-ionization entrained UFOs are discovered in four (66<!PCT!>) AGN of our sample, supporting the shocked outflow interpretation for ionized winds in AGN. We notice that two out of seven (28<!PCT!>) UFOs in our sample seem to respond to the radiation field and three (43<!PCT!>) UFOs hint at a radiatively accelerated nature, requiring further observations. Combined with published works, we do not find any correlations between UFO responses and AGN properties except for a tentative ($ anti-correlation between the UFO acceleration and the Eddington ratio, to be confirmed by further observations and an enlarged sample. The kinetic energy of UFOs, mostly detected in soft X-rays, is found to have a large uncertainty. We, therefore, cannot conclude whether soft X-ray UFOs have sufficient energy to drive the AGN feedback, although they are very promising based on some reasonable assumptions. The primary UFO in I ZW 1 (detected in the hard X-ray) is the only case in our sample to possess conclusively sufficient energy to affect the host galaxy.
In this paper we present a comprehensive study of the mass of the intermediate mass black hole candidate HLX-1 in the galaxy ESO 243-49. We analyse the continuum X-ray spectra collected by Swift, ...XMM-Newton, and Chandra with the slim disc model, slimbh, and estimate the black hole mass for the full range of inclination (inc = 0°−85°) and spin (a∗ = 0−0.998). The relativistic slimbh model is particularly suited to study high luminosity disc spectra as it incorporates the effects of advection, such as the shift of the inner disc edge towards smaller radii and the increasing height of the disc photosphere (including relativistic ray-tracing from its proper location rather than the mid-plane of the disc). We find for increasing values of inclination that a zero spin black hole has a mass range of 6300−50 900 M⊙ and a maximally spinning black hole has a mass between 16 900−191 700 M⊙. This is consistent with previous estimates and reinforces the idea that HLX-1 contains an intermediate mass black hole.
ABSTRACT
NGC 7582 (z = 0.005264; D = 22.5 Mpc) is a highly variable, changing-look AGN. In this work, we explore the X-ray properties of this source using XMM–Newton and NuSTAR archival observations ...in the 3 – 40 keV range, from 2001 to 2016. NGC 7582 exhibits a long-term variability between observations but also a short-term variability in two observations that has not been studied before. To study the variability, we perform a time-resolved spectral analysis using a phenomenological model and a physically motivated model (uxclumpy). The spectral fitting is achieved using a nested sampling Monte Carlo method. uxclumpy enables testing various geometries of the absorber that may fit AGN spectra. We find that the best model is composed of a fully covering clumpy absorber. From this geometry, we estimate the velocity, size, and distance of the clumps. The column density of the absorber in the line of sight varies from Compton-thin to Compton-thick between observations. Variability over the time-scale of a few tens of kiloseconds is also observed within two observations. The obscuring clouds are consistent with being located at a distance not larger than 0.6 pc, moving with a transverse velocity exceeding ∼700 km s−1. We could put only a lower limit on the size of the obscuring cloud being larger than 1013 cm. Given the sparsity of the observations, and the limited exposure time per observation available, we cannot determine the exact structure of the obscuring clouds. The results are broadly consistent with comet-like obscuring clouds or spherical clouds with a non-uniform density profile.
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