Multiwavelength Observations of GX 339-4 in 1996. II. Rapid X-ray Variability

Abstract

As part of our multiwavelength campaign of GX 339-4 observations in 1996 we present the rapid X-ray variability observed July 26 using the RXTE when the source was in a hard state (= soft X-ray low state). We found that the source was extremely variable, with many bright flares. The flares have relatively symmetric time profiles. There are a few time intervals where the flux rises steadily and then drops suddenly, sometimes to a level lower than the average before the increase. Hardness ratios showed that the source was slightly softer when the flux was brighter. The power density spectra (PDS) were also complicated and we found that broken power laws do not provide adequate fits to any of them. Instead a pair of zero-centered Lorentzians gives a good general description of the shape of the PDS. We found several quasi-periodic oscillations (QPO), including some that are harmonically spaced with the most stable frequency at 0.35 Hz. While the overall rms variability of the source was close to being constant throughout the observation (29% integrating between 0.01 and 50 Hz), there is a small but significant change in the PDS shape with time. More importantly, we show that the soft 2-5 keV band is more variable than the harder 5-10 and 10-40 keV bands, which is unusual for this source and for other black hole candidates. Cross correlation functions (CCF) between these bands show that the light curve for the 10-40 keV band lags that of the 2-5 keV band by 5 msec.