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KiloHertz Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in GX 17+2

Rudy Wijnands·Jeroen Homan·Michiel van der Klis·Mariano Mendez·Erik Kuulkers·Jan van Paradijs·Walter H. G. Lewin·Frederick K. Lamb·Dimitrios Psaltis·Brian Vaughan
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Abstract

We observed the low-mass X-ray binary and Z source GX 17+2 with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer during 6-8 Feb 1997, 1-4 Apr 1997, and 26-27 Jul 1997. The X-ray color-color diagram shows a clear Z track. Two simultaneous kHz quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are present in each observation, whose frequencies are well correlated with the position of the source on the Z-track. At the left end of the horizontal branch (HB) only the higher frequency peak is observed, at 645+/-9 Hz, with an rms amplitude of 5.7+/-0.5%, and a FWHM of 183+/-35 Hz. When the source moves down the Z track to the upper normal branch the frequency of the kHz QPO increases to 1087+/-12 Hz, and the rms amplitude and FWHM decrease by a factor 2. Further down the Z the QPO becomes undetectable, with rms upper limits of typically 2.0%. Halfway down the HB a second QPO appears in the power spectra with a frequency of 480+/-23 Hz. The frequency of this QPO also increases when the source moves along the Z track, up to 781+/-11 Hz halfway down the normal branch, while the rms amplitude and FWHM stay approximately constant at 2.5% and 70 Hz. The QPO frequency difference is constant at 293.5+/-7.5 Hz. Simultaneously with the kHz QPOs we detect HB QPOs (HBOs). The simultaneous presence of HBOs and kHz QPOs excludes the magnetospheric beat-frequency model as the explanation for at least one of these two phenomena.

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Rudy Wijnands, Jeroen Homan, Michiel van der Klis, Mariano Mendez, Erik Kuulkers, Jan van Paradijs, Walter H. G. Lewin, Frederick K. Lamb, Dimitrios Psaltis, Brian Vaughan. 1997-10-01. KiloHertz Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in GX 17+2. https://doi.org/10.1086/311039

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