The black hole mass and accretion rate in ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in external galaxies, whose X-ray luminosities exceed those of the brightest black holes in our Galaxy by hundreds and ...thousands of times, is an unsolved problem. Here we report that all ULXs ever spectroscopically observed have almost the same optical spectra, apparently of WNL type (late nitrogen Wolf-Rayet stars) or LBV (luminous blue variables) in their hot state, which are very scarce stellar objects. We show that the spectra do not originate from WNL/LBV-type donors but from very hot winds from the accretion disks with nearly normal hydrogen content, which have similar physical conditions to the stellar winds from these stars. The optical spectra are similar to that of SS 433, the only known supercritical accretor in our Galaxy, although the ULX spectra indicate a higher wind temperature. Our results suggest that ULXs with X-ray luminosities of ∼1040 erg s-1 must constitute a homogeneous class of objects, which most likely have supercritical accretion disks.
High inclination black hole X-ray binaries exhibit blueshifted ionized absorption lines from disk winds, whose launching mechanism is still in debate. The lines are predominantly observed in the ...high/soft state and disappear in the low/hard state, anticorrelated with the jet. We have tested if the thermal winds, which are driven by the irradiation of the outer disk by the X-rays from the inner disk, can explain these observed properties or whether we need a magnetic switch between jet and wind. We use analytic thermal-radiative wind models to predict the column density, ionization parameter, and velocity of the wind given the broadband continuum shape and luminosity determined from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) monitoring. We use these to simulate the detailed photoionized absorption features predicted at epochs where there are Chandra high-resolution spectra. These include low/hard, high/soft, and very high states. The model was found to well reproduce the observed lines in the high/soft state, and it also successfully predicts their disappearance in the low/hard state. However, the simplest version of the thermal wind model also predicts that there should be strong features observed in the very high state, which are not seen in the data. Nonetheless, we show this is consistent with thermal winds when we include self-shielding by the irradiated inner disk atmosphere. These results indicate that the evolution of observed wind properties in different states during outbursts in H1743−322 can be explained by the thermal wind model and does not require magnetic driving.
We report results from the X-ray and optical monitoring of the black hole candidate MAXI J1820+070 (=ASSASN-18ey) over the entire period of its outburst from 2018 March to October. In this outburst, ...the source exhibited two sets of "fast rise and slow decay"-type long-term flux variations. We found that the 1-100 keV luminosities at two peaks were almost the same, although a significant spectral softening was only seen in the second flux rise. This confirms that the state transition from the low/hard state to the high/soft state is not determined by the mass accretion rate alone. The X-ray spectrum was reproduced with the disk blackbody emission and its Comptonization, and the long-term spectral variations seen in this outburst were consistent with a disk truncation model. The Comptonization component, with a photon index of 1.5-1.9 and electron temperature of 40 keV, was dominant during the low/hard state periods, and its contribution rapidly decreased (increased) during the spectral softening (hardening). During the high/soft-state period, in which the X-ray spectrum became dominated by the disk blackbody component, the inner disk radius was almost constant, suggesting that the standard disk was present down to the innermost stable circular orbit. The long-term evolution of optical and X-ray luminosities and their correlation suggest that the jets substantially contributed to the optical emission in the low/hard state, while they are quenched and the outer disk emission dominated the optical flux in the intermediate state and the high/soft state.
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 report on the evolution of X-ray spectral and timing properties of the X-ray binary MAXI J1727 − 203 based on NICER/XTI and MAXI/GSC observations. Over the course of the outburst, a ...transition from the intermediate state to the high/soft state, and then back to the low/hard state was observed. During the high/soft state, the innermost radius estimated from the multi-colour disc model remained constant at $\sim 145.0\ (\frac{D}{10\ \mathrm{kpc}}) \ {(\frac{\cos i}{\cos 0^{\circ }})}^{-1/2}$ km, where D is the source distance and i is the inclination. Assuming that the binary system contain a Schwarzschild black hole and has an inclination angle of 0°–84°, and considering the typical Eddington ratio at the transition back to the low/hard state, the black hole mass was estimated to be M ≥ 11.5 M⊙ for a distance of D ≥ 5.9 kpc. We also attempted to constrain the black hole mass and distance with a different method by combining the results from optical and near-infrared photometric observations. We modelled the near-infrared to X-ray spectral energy distributions obtained in the outburst period with an irradiated disk model, and estimated the lower limit of the black hole mass for a given distance, assuming both accretion disk and companion star fill their Roche lobe. The lower limit was, however, found to be much higher than the constraint obtained from the X-ray data. We discuss several possible causes of this inconsistency. It is difficult to fully resolve the conflict by a single cause and hence a combination of causes is required.
How black holes accrete surrounding matter is a fundamental yet unsolved question in astrophysics. It is generally believed that matter is absorbed into black holes via accretion disks, the state of ...which depends primarily on the mass-accretion rate. When this rate approaches the critical rate (the Eddington limit), thermal instability is supposed to occur in the inner disk, causing repetitive patterns of large-amplitude X-ray variability (oscillations) on timescales of minutes to hours. In fact, such oscillations have been observed only in sources with a high mass-accretion rate, such as GRS 1915+105 (refs 2, 3). These large-amplitude, relatively slow timescale, phenomena are thought to have physical origins distinct from those of X-ray or optical variations with small amplitudes and fast timescales (less than about 10 seconds) often observed in other black-hole binaries-for example, XTE J1118+480 (ref. 4) and GX 339-4 (ref. 5). Here we report an extensive multi-colour optical photometric data set of V404 Cygni, an X-ray transient source containing a black hole of nine solar masses (and a companion star) at a distance of 2.4 kiloparsecs (ref. 8). Our data show that optical oscillations on timescales of 100 seconds to 2.5 hours can occur at mass-accretion rates more than ten times lower than previously thought. This suggests that the accretion rate is not the critical parameter for inducing inner-disk instabilities. Instead, we propose that a long orbital period is a key condition for these large-amplitude oscillations, because the outer part of the large disk in binaries with long orbital periods will have surface densities too low to maintain sustained mass accretion to the inner part of the disk. The lack of sustained accretion--not the actual rate--would then be the critical factor causing large-amplitude oscillations in long-period systems.
Abstract
We report the results from the broadband X-ray monitoring of the new Galactic black hole candidate MAXI J1803−298 with MAXI/GSC and Swift/BAT during its outburst. After the discovery on 2021 ...May 1, the soft X-ray flux below 10 keV rapidly increased for ∼10 days, then gradually decreased over five months. In the brightest phase, the source exhibited the state transition from the low/hard state to the high/soft state via the intermediate state. The broadband X-ray spectrum during the outburst is well described with a disk blackbody plus its thermal or nonthermal Comptonization. Before the transition, the source spectrum is described by a thermal Comptonization component with a photon index of ∼1.7 and an electron temperature of ∼30 keV, while a strong disk blackbody component is observed after the transition. The spectral properties in these periods are consistent with the low/hard state and the high/soft state, respectively. A sudden flux drop with a duration of a few days, unassociated with a significant change in the hardness ratio, was found in the intermediate state. A possible cause of this variation is that the mass accretion rate rapidly increased at the disk transition, which induced a strong Compton-thick outflow and scattered out the X-ray flux. Assuming a nonspinning black hole, we estimate the black hole mass of MAXI J1803−298 to be
5.8
±
0.4
(
cos
i
/
cos
70
°
)
−
1
/
2
(
D
/
8
kpc
)
M
⊙
(where
i
and
D
are the inclination angle and the distance, respectively) from the inner disk radius obtained in the high/soft state.
We report X-ray, optical, and near-infrared monitoring of the new X-ray transient MAXI J1820+070 discovered with MAXI on 2018 March 11. Its X-ray intensity reached ∼2 crab at 2-20 keV at the end of ...March, and then gradually decreased until the middle of June. In this period, the X-ray spectrum was described by Comptonization of the disk emission, with a photon index of ∼1.5 and an electron temperature of ∼50 keV, which is consistent with a black hole X-ray binary in the low/hard state. The electron temperature was slightly decreased, and the photon index increased, with increasing flux. The source showed significant X-ray flux variation on a timescale of seconds. This short-term variation was found to be associated with changes in the spectral shape, and the photon index became slightly harder at higher fluxes. This suggests that the variation was produced by a change in the properties of the hot electron cloud responsible for the strong Comptonization. Modeling a multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution around the X-ray flux peak at the end of March, covering the near-infrared to X-ray bands, we found that the optical and near-infrared fluxes were likely contributed substantially by the jet emission. Before this outburst, the source was never detected in the X-ray band with MAXI (with a 3 upper limit of ∼0.2 mcrab at 4-10 keV, obtained from seven years of data from 2009 to 2016), whereas weak optical and infrared activity was found at flux levels ∼3 orders of magnitude lower than the peak fluxes in the outburst.
Abstract
We present Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI) and Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) observations of the Be X-ray binary, MAXI J0655−013, in outburst. NuSTAR observed the ...source once early in the outburst, when spectral analysis yields a bolometric (0.1–100 keV), unabsorbed source luminosity of
L
bol
= 5.6 × 10
36
erg s
−1
, and a second time 54 days later, by which time the luminosity had dropped to
L
bol
= 4 × 10
34
erg s
−1
after first undergoing a dramatic increase. Timing analysis of the NuSTAR data reveals a neutron star spin period of 1129.09 ± 0.04 s during the first observation, which decreased to 1085 ± 1 s by the time of the second observation, indicating spin-up due to accretion throughout the outburst. Furthermore, during the first NuSTAR observation, we observed quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) with centroid frequency
ν
0
= 89 ± 1 mHz, which exhibited a second harmonic feature. By combining the MAXI and NuSTAR data with pulse period measurements reported by Fermi/GBM, we are able to show that apparent flaring behavior in the MAXI light curve is an artifact introduced by uneven sampling of the pulse profile, which has a large pulsed fraction. Finally, we estimate the magnetic field strength at the neutron star surface via three independent methods, invoking a tentative cyclotron resonance scattering feature at 44 keV, QPO production at the inner edge of the accretion disk, and spin-up via interaction of the neutron star magnetic field with accreting material. Each of these result in a significantly different value. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each method and infer that MAXI J0655−013 is likely to have a high surface magnetic field strength,
B
s
> 10
13
G.
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