Abstract
Recent radiation-magnetohydrodynamic simulations of active galactic nuclei predict the presence of the disk winds, which may become unstable and turn into fragmented clumps far from the ...central black hole. These inner winds and the outer clumps may be observed as ultrafast outflows (UFOs) and partial absorbers, respectively. However, it is challenging to observationally constrain their origins because of the complicated spectral features and variations. To resolve such degeneracies of the clumpy absorbers and other components, we developed a novel
spectral-ratio model fitting
technique that estimates the variable absorbing parameters from the ratios of the partially absorbed spectra to the non-absorbed one, canceling the complex non-variable spectral features. We applied this method to the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy IRAS 13224-3809 observed by XMM-Newton in 2016 for ∼1.5 Ms. As a result, we found that the soft spectral variation is mostly caused by changes in the partial covering fraction of the mildly ionized clumpy absorbers, whose outflow velocities are similar to those of the UFO (∼0.2–0.3
c
). Furthermore, the velocities of the clumpy absorbers and UFOs increase similarly with the X-ray fluxes, consistent with the change in the UV-dominant continuum flux. We also discovered a striking correlation between the clump covering fraction and the equivalent width of the UFO absorption lines, which indicates that increasing the outflow in the line of sight leads to more prominent UFOs and more partial absorption. These findings strongly suggest that the clumpy absorbers and the UFO share the same origin, driven by the same UV-dominant continuum radiation.
Abstract
MAXI J1820+070 is a transient black hole binary discovered on 2018 March 11. The unprecedented rich statistics brought by the NICER X-ray telescope allow detailed timing analyses up to ∼1 ...kHz uncompromised by photon shot noise. To estimate the time lags, a Fourier analysis was applied, which led to two different conclusions for the system configuration: one supporting a lamp-post configuration with a stable accretion disk extending close to the innermost stable circular orbit and the other supporting a truncated accretion disk contracting with time. Using the same data set, we present the results based on the cross-correlation function (CCF). The CCF is calculated between two different X-ray bands where one side is subtracted from the other side, which we call the differential CCF (dCCF). Soft and hard lags of ∼0.03 and 3 s, respectively, are clearly identified without being diluted by the spectral mixture, demonstrating the effectiveness of the dCCF analysis. The evolution of these lags is tracked, along with spectral changes for the first 120 days since discovery. Both the dCCF and spectral fitting results are interpreted as the soft lag being a reverberation lag between the Comptonized emission and the soft excess emission, and that the hard lag is between the disk blackbody emission and the Comptonized emission. The evolutions of these lags are in line with the picture of a truncated disk contracting with time.
ABSTRACT
NGC 5548 is a very well-studied Seyfert 1 galaxy in broad wavelengths. Previous multiwavelength observation campaigns have indicated that its multiple absorbers are highly variable and ...complex. A previous study applied a two-zone partial covering model with different covering fractions to explain the complex X-ray spectral variation and reported a correlation between one of the covering fractions and the photon index of the power-law continuum. However, it is not straightforward to physically understand such a correlation. In this paper, we propose a model to avoid this unphysical situation; the central X-ray emission region is partially covered by clumpy absorbers composed of double layers. These ‘double partial coverings’ have precisely the same covering fraction. Based on our model, we have conducted an extensive spectral study using the data taken by XMM–Newton, Suzaku, and NuSTAR in the range of 0.3–78 keV for 16 yr. Consequently, we have found that the X-ray spectral variations are mainly explained by independent changes of the following three components; (1) the soft excess spectral component below ∼1 keV, (2) the cut-off power-law normalization, and (3) the partial covering fraction of the clumpy absorbers. In particular, spectral variations above ∼1 keV are mostly explained only by the changes of the partial covering fraction and the power-law normalization. In contrast, the photon index and all the other spectral parameters are not significantly variable.
Abstract
Circinus X-1 (Cir X-1) is a neutron star binary with an elliptical orbit of 16.6 days. The source is unique for its extreme youth, providing a key to understanding early binary evolution. ...However, its X-ray variability is too complex to reach a clear interpretation. We conducted the first high-cadence (every 4 hr, on average) observations covering one entire orbit using the NICER X-ray telescope. The X-ray flux behavior can be divided into stable, dip, and flaring phases. The X-ray spectra in all phases can be described by a common model consisting of a partially covered disk blackbody emission and the line features from a highly ionized photoionized plasma. The spectral change over the orbit is attributable to rapid changes of the partial covering medium in the line of sight and gradual changes of the disk blackbody emission. Emission lines of H- and He-like Mg, Si, S, and Fe are detected, most prominently in the dip phase. The Fe emission lines change to absorption in the course of the transition from the dip phase to the flaring phase. The estimated ionization degree indicates no significant changes, suggesting that the photoionized plasma is stable over the orbit. We propose a simple model in which the disk blackbody emission is partially blocked by a local medium in the line of sight that has spatial structures depending on the azimuth of the accretion disk. Emission lines upon the continuum emission are from the photoionized plasma located outside of the blocking material.
Abstract
Supersoft X-ray sources (SSSs) are white dwarf (WD) binaries that radiate almost entirely below ∼1 keV. Their X-ray spectra are often complex when viewed with the X-ray grating ...spectrometers, where numerous emission and absorption features are intermingled and hard to separate. The absorption features are mostly from the WD atmosphere, for which radiative transfer models have been constructed. The emission features are from the corona surrounding the WD atmosphere, in which incident emission from the WD surface is reprocessed. Modeling the corona requires different solvers and assumptions for the radiative transfer, which has yet to be achieved. We chose CAL87, an SSS in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which exhibits emission-dominated spectra from the corona, as the WD atmosphere emission is assumed to be completely blocked by the accretion disk. We constructed a radiative transfer model for the corona using two radiative transfer codes:
xstar
for a one-dimensional two-stream solver and
MONACO
for a three-dimensional Monte Carlo solver. We identified their differences and limitations in comparison to the spectra taken with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer on board the XMM-Newton satellite. We finally obtained a sufficiently good spectral model of CAL87 based on the radiative transfer of the corona plus an additional collisionally ionized plasma. In the coming X-ray microcalorimeter era, it will be required to interpret spectra based on radiative transfer in a
wider
range of sources than what is presented here.
Abstract
The presence of the apparently extended hard (2–10 keV) X-ray emission along the Galactic plane has been known since the early 1980s. With a deep X-ray exposure using the Chandra X-ray ...Observatory of a slightly off-plane region in the Galactic bulge, most of the extended emission was resolved into faint discrete X-ray sources in the Fe K band (Revnivtsev et al. 2009, Nature, 458, 1142). The major constituents of these sources have long been considered to be X-ray active stars and magnetic cataclysmic variables (CVs). However, recent works including our near-infrared (NIR) imaging and spectroscopic studies (Morihana et al. 2013, ApJ, 766, 14; Morihana et al. 2016, PASJ, 68, 57) argue that other populations should be more dominant. To investigate this further, we conducted a much deeper NIR imaging observation at the center of the Chandra’s exposure field. We have used the MOIRCS on the Subaru telescope, reaching the limiting magnitude of ∼18 mag in the J, H, and Ks bands in this crowded region, and identified ${\sim}50\%$ of the X-ray sources with NIR candidate counterparts. We classified the X-ray sources into three groups (A, B, and C) based on their positions in the X-ray color–color diagram and characterized them based on the X-ray and NIR features. We argue that the major populations of the Group A and C sources are, respectively, CVs (binaries containing magnetic or non-magnetic white dwarfs with high accretion rates) and X-ray active stars. The major population of the Group B sources is presumably white dwarf (WD) binaries with low mass accretion rates. The Fe K equivalent width in the composite X-ray spectrum of the Group B sources is the largest among the three and comparable to that of the Galactic bulge X-ray emission. This leads us to speculate that there are numerous WD binaries with low mass accretion rates which are not recognized as CVs but are the major contributor of the apparently extended X-ray emission.
Abstract
The narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4051 is known to exhibit significant X-ray spectral/flux variations and have a number of emission/absorption features. X-ray observations have revealed ...that these absorption features are blueshifted, which indicates that NGC 4051 has warm absorber outflow. In order to constrain physical parameters of the warm absorber outflow, we analyse the archival data with the longest exposure taken by XMM–Newton in 2009. We calculate the root-mean-square (rms) spectra with the grating spectral resolution for the first time. The rms spectra have a sharp peak and several dips, which can be explained by variable absorption features and non-variable emission lines; a lower ionized warm absorber (WA1: log ξ = 1.5, v = −650 km s−1) shows large variability, whereas higher ionized warm absorbers (WA2: log ξ = 2.5, v = −4100 km s−1, WA3: log ξ = 3.4, v = −6100 km s−1) show little variability. WA1 shows the maximum variability at a time-scale of ∼104 s, suggesting that the absorber locates at ∼103 times of the Schwarzschild radius. The depth of the absorption features due to WA1 and the observed soft X-ray flux are anticorrelated in several observational sequences, which can be explained by variation of partial covering fraction of the double-layer blobs that are composed of the Compton-thick core and the ionized layer (=WA1). WA2 and WA3 show little variability and presumably extend uniformly in the line of sight. The present result shows that NGC 4051 has two types of the warm absorber outflows; the static, high-ionized and extended line-driven disc winds and the variable, low-ionized and clumpy double-layer blobs.
We report the first half-year monitoring of the new Galactic black hole candidate MAXI J1348-630, discovered on 2019 January 26 with the Gas Slit Camera on board the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image ...(MAXI). During the monitoring period, the source exhibited two outburst peaks, where the first peak flux (at T = 14 days from the discovery of T = 0) was ∼4 Crab (2-20 keV) and the second one (at T = 132 days) was ∼0.4 Crab (2-20 keV). The source exhibited distinct spectral transitions between the high/soft and low/hard states and an apparent "q"-shape curve on the hardness-intensity diagram, both of which are well-known characteristics of black hole binaries (BHBs). Compared to other bright black hole transients, MAXI J1348-630 is characterized by its low disk temperature (∼0.75 keV at the maximum) and high peak flux in the high/soft state. The low peak temperature leads to a large innermost radius that is identified as the innermost stable circular orbit, determined by the black hole mass and spin. Assuming the empirical relation between the soft-to-hard transition luminosity (Ltrans) and the Eddington luminosity (LEdd), Ltrans/LEdd 0.02, and a face-on disk around a non-spinning black hole, the source distance and the black hole mass are estimated to be D 4 kpc and , respectively. The black hole is more massive if the disk is inclined and the black hole is spinning. These results suggest that MAXI J1348-630 may host a relatively massive black hole among the known BHBs in our Galaxy.
Abstract We detected a giant X-ray flare from the RS CVn–type binary star UX Ari using the Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image on 2020 August 17 and started a series of Neutron star Interior Composition ...Explorer observations 89 minutes later. For a week, the entire duration of the flare was covered with 32 snapshot observations including the rising phase. The X-ray luminosity reached 2 × 10 33 erg s −1 , and the entire energy release was ∼10 38 erg in the 0.5–8.0 keV band. X-ray spectra characterized by continuum emission with lines of Fe xxv He α and Fe xxvi Ly α were obtained. We found that the temperature peaks before the flux does, which suggests that the period of plasma formation in the magnetic flare loop was captured. Using the continuum information (temperature, flux, and their delay time), we estimated the flare loop size to be ∼3 × 10 11 cm and the peak electron density to be ∼4 × 10 10 cm −3 . Furthermore, using the line ratio of Fe xxv and Fe xxvi , we investigated any potential indications of deviation from collisional ionization equilibrium (CIE). The X-ray spectra were consistent with CIE plasma throughout the flare, but the possibility of an ionizing plasma away from CIE was not rejected in the flux rising phase.
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