arXiv subjects

Chris Done

Publications and source records attributed to Chris Done.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

A re--analysis of the iron line in the XMM-Newton data from the low/hard state in GX339--4

The detection of an extremely broad iron line in XMM-Newton MOS data from the low/hard state of the black hole binary GX339-4 is the only piece of evidence which unambiguously conflicts with the otherwise extremely successful truncated disc interpretation of this state. However, it also conflicts with some aspect of observational data for all other alternative geometries of the low/hard state, including jet models, making it very difficult to understand. We re-analyse these data and show that they are strongly affected by pileup even with extensive centroid removal as the source is ~200x brighter than the recommended maximum countrate. Instead, we extract the simultaneous PN timing mode data which should not be affected by pileup. These show a line which is significantly narrower than in the MOS data. Thus these data are easily consistent with a truncated disc, and indeed, strongly support such an interpretation.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

Limits on spin determination from disc spectral fitting in GX 339-4

We attempt to constrain the black hole spin in GX 339-4 from spectral fitting of disc dominated data using RXTE spectra from the three most recent outbursts. We use the best current models for the disc emission, including full radiative transfer through the photosphere rather than assuming that the intrinsic emission from each radius has a (colour temperature corrected) blackbody spectrum. The results strongly depend on the poorly known binary system parameters, but we find a strict upper limit of a<0.9 for any distance greater than 6 kpc, assuming that the orbital inclination is the same as that of the inner disc. By contrast, the higher spin of 0.935 +/- 0.01 (statistical) +/-0.01 (systematic) claimed from fitting the iron line profile in this object requires that the inner disc is misaligned by over 20 degrees from the orbital inclination. While some of these datasets are distorted by instrumental pileup, the same spin/inclination constraints are derived from data which are not piled up, so there is a real conflict between the two techniques to measure spin. We argue that the disc spectral fits are more likely to be robust hence that there are still issues to be understood in the iron line profile.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

Quasi-periodic oscillations under wavelet microscope: the application of Matching Pursuit algorithm

We zoom in on the internal structure of the low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillation (LF QPO) often observed in black hole binary systems to investigate the physical nature of the lack of coherence in this feature. We show the limitations of standard Fourier power spectral analysis for following the evolution of the QPO with time and instead use wavelet analysis and a new time-frequency technique -Matching Pursuit algorithm- to maximise the resolution with which we can follow the QPO behaviour. We use the LF QPO seen in a very high state of XTE J1550-564 to illustrate these techniques and show that the best description of the QPO is that it is composed of multiple independent oscillations with a distribution of lifetimes but with constant frequency over this duration. This rules out models where there is continual frequency modulation, such as multiple blobs spiralling inwards. Instead it favours models where the QPO is excited by random turbulence in the flow.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

Testing Accretion Disk Structure with Suzaku data of LMC X-3

The Suzaku observation of LMC X-3 gives the best data to date on the shape of the accretion disk spectrum. This is due to the combination of very low absorbing column density along this line of sight which allows the shape of the disk emisison to be constrained at low energies by the CCD's, while the tail can be simultaneously determined up to 30 keV by the high energy detectors. These data clearly demonstrate that the observed disk spectrum is broader than a simple 'sum of blackbodies', and relativistic smearing of the emission is strongly required. However, the intrinsic emission should be more complex than a (color-corrected) sum of blackbodies as it should also contain photo-electric absorption edges from the partially ionised disk photosphere. These are broadened by the relativistic smearing, but the models predict ~ 3-5 per cent deviations for 1/3- 1 solar abundance around the edge energies, significantly stronger than observed. This indicate that the models need to include more physical processes such as self-irradiation, bound-bound (line) absorption, and/or emission from recombination continuua and/or lines. Alternatively, if none of these match the data, it may instead require that the accretion disk density and/or emissivity profile with height is different to that assumed. Thus these data demonstrate the feasibility of observational tests of our fundamental understanding of the vertical structure of accretion disks.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2010

A physical interpretation of the variability power spectral components in accreting neutron stars

We propose a physical framework for interpreting the characteristic frequencies seen in the broad band power spectra from black hole and neutron star binaries. We use the truncated disc/hot inner flow geometry, and assume that the hot flow is generically turbulent. Each radius in the hot flow produces fluctuations, and we further assume that these are damped on the viscous frequency. Integrating over radii gives broad band continuum noise power between low and high frequency breaks which are set by the viscous timescale at the outer and inner edge of the hot flow, respectively. Lense-Thirring (vertical) precession of the entire hot flow superimposes the low frequency QPO on this continuum power. We test this model on the power spectra seen in the neutron star systems (atolls) as these have the key advantage that the (upper) kHz QPO most likely independently tracks the truncation radius. These show that this model can give a consistent solution, with the truncation radius decreasing from 20-8 Rg while the inner radius of the flow remains approximately constant at ~4.5 Rg i.e. 9.2 km. We use this very constrained geometry to predict the low frequency QPO from Lense-Thirring precession of the entire hot flow from r_o to r_i. The simplest assumption of a constant surface density in the hot flow matches the observed QPO frequency to within 25 per cent. This match can be made even better by considering that the surface density should become increasingly centrally concentrated as the flow collapses into an optically thick boundary layer during the spectral transition. The success of the model opens up the way to use the broad band power spectra as a diagnostic of accretion flows in strong gravity.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2009

An additional soft X-ray component in the dim low/hard state of black hole binaries

We test the truncated disc models using multiwavelength (optical/UV/X-ray) data from the 2005 hard state outburst of the black hole SWIFT J1753.5-0127. This system is both fairly bright and has fairly low interstellar absorption, so gives one of the best datasets to study the weak, cool disc emission in this state. We fit these data using models of an X-ray illuminated disc to constrain the inner disc radius throughout the outburst. Close to the peak, the observed soft X-ray component is consistent with being produced by the inner disc, with its intrinsic emission enhanced in temperature and luminosity by reprocessing of hard X-ray illumination in an overlap region between the disc and corona. This disc emission provides the seed photons for Compton scattering to produce the hard X-ray spectrum, and these hard X-rays also illuminate the outer disc, producing the optical emission by reprocessing. However, the situation is very different as the outburst declines. The optical is probably cyclo-synchrotron radiation, self-generated by the flow, rather than tracing the outer disc. Similarly, limits from reprocessing make it unlikely that the soft X-rays are directly tracing the inner disc radius. This is seen more clearly in a similarly dim low/hard state spectrum from XTE J1118+480. The very small emitting area implied by the relatively high temperature soft X-ray component is completely inconsistent with the much larger, cooler, UV component which is well fit by a truncated disc. We speculate on the origin of this component, but its existence as a clearly separate spectral component from the truncated disc in XTE J1118+480 shows that it does not simply trace the inner disc radius, so cannot constrain the truncated disc models.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2009

The Ultraluminous State

(Abridged) We revisit the question of the nature of ULXs through a detailed investigation of their spectral shape, using the highest quality X-ray data available in the XMM-Newton public archives. We confirm that simple spectral models commonly used for the analysis and interpretation of ULXs (power-law continuum and multi-colour disc blackbody models) are inadequate in the face of such high quality data. Instead we find two near ubiquitous features in the spectrum: a soft excess and a roll-over in the spectrum at energies above 3keV. We investigate a range of more physical models to describe these data. We find that disc plus Comptonised corona models fit the data well, but the derived corona is cool, and optically thick (tau ~ 5-30). We argue that these observed disc temperatures are not a good indicator of the black hole mass as the powerful, optically thick corona drains energy from the inner disc, and obscures it. We estimate the intrinsic (corona-less) disc temperature, and demonstrate that in most cases it lies in the regime of stellar mass black holes. These objects have spectra which range from those similar to the highest mass accretion rate states in Galactic binaries, to those which clearly have two peaks, one at energies below 1 keV (from the outer, unComptonised disc) and one above 3 keV (from the Comptonised, inner disc). However, a few ULXs have a significantly cooler corrected disc temperature; we suggest that these are the most extreme stellar mass black hole accretors, in which a massive wind completely envelopes the inner disc regions, creating a cool photosphere. We conclude that ULXs provide us with an observational template for the transition between Eddington and super-Eddington accretion flows, with the latter occupying a new ultraluminous accretion state.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2008

Reprocessing of X-rays in the outer accretion disc of the black hole binary XTE J1817--330

We build a simple model of the optical/UV emission from irradiation of the outer disc by the inner disc and coronal emission in black hole binaries. We apply this to the broadband Swift data from the outburst of the black hole binary XTE J1817--330 to confirm previous results that the optical/UV emission in the soft state is consistent with a reprocessing a constant fraction of the bolometric X-ray luminosity. However, this is very surprising as the disc temperature drops by more than a factor 3 in the soft state, which should produce a marked change in the reprocessing efficiency. The easiest way to match the observed constant reprocessed fraction is for the disc skin to be highly ionized (as suggested 30 years ago by van Paradijs), so that the bulk of the disc flux is reflected and only the hardest X-rays heat the disc. The constant reprocessed fraction also favours direct illumination of the disc over a scattering origin as the optical depth/solid angle of any scattering material (wind/corona) over the disc should decrease as the source luminosity declines. By contrast, the reprocessed fraction increases very significantly (by a factor ~6) as the source enters the hard state. This dramatic change is not evident from X-ray/UV flux correlations as it is masked by bandpass effects. However, it does not necessarily signal a change in emission e.g. the emergence of the jet dominating the optical/UV flux as the reflection albedo must change with the dramatic change in spectral shape.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

RE J1034+396: The origin of the soft X-ray excess and QPO

The X-ray quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) seen in RE J1034+396 is so far unique amongst AGN. Here we look at the another unique feature of RE J1034+396, namely its huge soft X-ray excess, to see if this is related in any way to the detection of the QPO. We show that all potential models considered for the soft energy excess can fit the 0.3-10 keV X-ray spectrum, but that the energy dependence of the rapid variability (which is dominated by the QPO) strongly supports a spectral decomposition where the soft excess is from low temperature Comptonization of the disc emission and remains mostly constant, while the rapid variability is produced by the power law tail changing in normalization. The presence of the QPO in the tail rather than in the disc is a common feature in black hole binaries, but low temperature Comptonization of the disc spectrum is not generally seen in these systems. The main exception to this is GRS 1915+105, the only black hole binary which routinely shows super-Eddington luminosities. We speculate that super-Eddington accretion rates lead to a change in disc structure, and that this also triggers the X-ray QPO.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

A ~1-hour X-ray periodicity in an active galaxy RE J1034+396

Active galactic nuclei and quasars are thought to be scaled up versions of Galactic black hole binaries, powered by accretion onto supermassive black holes with masses of 10^6-10^9 M_Sun, as opposed to the ~10 M_Sun in binaries. One example of the similarities between these two types of systems is the characteristic rapid X-ray variability seen from the accretion flow. The power spectrum of this variability in black hole binaries consists of a broad, band-limited noise with multiple quasi-periodic oscillations superimposed, where power is concentrated over a narrow range of frequencies. Although the broad noise component has been observed in many active galactic nuclei, there are no significant detections of quasi-periodic oscillations. Here we report the discovery of a ~1h X-ray periodicity in a bright active galaxy RE J1034+396. The signal is highly statistically significant (at the 5.6 sigma level) and very coherent, with quality factor Q > 16. This reinforces the link between stellar and supermassive black holes, emphasizing the universal properties of accretion onto objects with very different masses. The X-ray modulation arises from the direct vicinity of the black hole, so this provides a new tool for studying active galactic nuclei.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Angular Momentum Transport in Accretion Disks and its Implications for Spin Estimates in Black Hole Binaries

The accretion flow in the disk dominated state of black hole binaries has peak temperature and luminosity which vary together in such a way as to indicate an approximately constant emitting area. The association of this with the last stable orbit gives one of the few ways to estimate spin when the mass of the black hole is known. However, deriving this radius requires knowledge of how the disk spectrum is modified by radiative transfer through the vertical structure of the disk, as well as special and general relativistic effects on the propagation of this radiation. Here we investigate the extent to which differences in vertical structure change the derived disk spectra by calculating these for a range of different stress prescriptions. We find that at a given mass accretion rate the spectra are almost identical for accretion rates of L/L_Edd <~ 0.1. The spectra are remarkably similar even up to the highest luminosities considered (L/L_Edd ~ 0.6) as long as the stresses do not dissipate more than about 10 per cent of the gravitational energy above the effective photosphere. This is exceeded only by classic alpha disks with alpha >~ 0.1, but these models give spectral variation which is incompatible with existing data. Therefore, we conclude that disk spectral modelling can place interesting constraints on angular momentum transport, but still provide a robust estimate of the spin of the black hole.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

X-ray irradiation in XTE J1817-330 and the inner radius of the truncated disc in the hard state

The key aspect of the very successful truncated disc model for the low/hard X-ray spectral state in black hole binaries is that the geometrically thin disc recedes back from the last stable orbit at the transition to this state. This has recently been challenged by direct observations of the low/hard state disc from CCD data. We reanalyze the Swift and RXTE campaign covering the 2006 outburst of XTE J1817-330 and show that these data actually strongly support the truncated disc model as the transition spectra unambiguously show that the disc begins to recede as the source leaves the disc dominated soft state. The disc radius inferred for the proper low/hard state is less clear-cut, but we show that the effect of irradiation from the energetically dominant hot plasma leads to an underestimate of the disc radius by a factor of 2-3 in this state. This may also produce the soft excess reported in some hard-state spectra. The inferred radius becomes still larger when the potential difference in stress at the inner boundary, increased colour temperature correction from incomplete thermalization of the irradiation, and loss of observable disc photons from Comptonization in the hot plasma are taken into account. We conclude that the inner disc radius in XTE J1817-330 in the low/hard spectral state is at least 6-8 times that seen in the disc dominated high/soft state, and that recession of the inner disc is the trigger for the soft--hard state transition, as predicted by the truncated disc models.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2008

Suzaku Results on Cygnus X-1 in the Low/Hard State

The black-hole binary Cygnus X-1 was observed for 17 ks with the Suzaku X-ray observatory in 2005 October, while it was in a low/hard state with a 0.7-300 keV luminosity of 4.6 x 10^37 erg/s. The XIS and HXD spectra, spanning 0.7-400 keV, were reproduced successfully incorporating a cool accretion disk and a hot Comptonizing corona. The corona is characterized by an electron temperature of ~100 keV, and two optical depths of ~0.4 and ~1.5 which account for the harder and softer continua, respectively. The disk has the innermost temperature of ~0.2 keV, and is thought to protrude half way into the corona. The disk not only provides seed photons to the Compton cloud, but also produces a soft spectral excess, a mild reflection hump, and a weakly broadened iron line. A comparison with the Suzaku data on GRO J1655-40 reveals several interesting spectral differences, which can mostly be attributed to inclination effects assuming that the disk has a flat geometry while the corona is grossly spherical. An intensity-sorted spectroscopy indicates that the continuum becomes less Comptonized when the source flares up on times scales of 1-200 s, while the underlying disk remains unchanged.

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arXiv2008

A Deep 0.3-10 keV Spectrum of the H$_{2}$O Maser Galaxy IC 2560

We present a new XMM-Newton spectrum of the Seyfert 2 nucleus of IC 2560, which hosts H$_{2}$O maser emission from an inclined Keplerian accretion disk. The X-ray spectrum shows soft excess due to multi-temperature ionized plasma, a hard continuum and strong emission features, from Mg, Si, S, Ca, Fe and Ni, mainly due to fluorescence. It is consistent with reflection of the continuum from a mostly neutral medium and obscuration due to a high column density, $>$ 10$^{24}$ cm$^{-2}$. The amplitude of the reflected component may exceed 10% of the central unobscured luminosity. This is higher than the reflected fraction, of a few percent, observed in other Seyfert 2 sources like NGC 4945. We observe an emission line at 6.7 keV, possibly due to FeXXV, undetected in previous Chandra observations. The absorption column density associated with this line is less than 10$^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$, lower than the obscuration of the central source. We hypothesize that this highly ionized Fe line emission originates in warm gas, also responsible for a scattered component of continuum emission that may dominate the spectrum between 1 and 3 keV. We compare X-ray and maser emission characteristics of IC 2560 and other AGN that exhibit water maser emission originating in disk structures around central engines. The temperature for the region of the disk associated with maser action is consistent with the expected 400-1000K range. The clumpiness of disk structures (inferred from the maser distribution) may depend on the unobscured luminosities of the central engines.

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arXiv2008

On why the Iron K-shell absorption in AGN is not a signature of the local Warm/Hot Intergalactic Medium

We present a comparison between the 2001 XMM-Newton and 2005 Suzaku observations of the quasar, PG1211+143 at z=0.0809. Variability is observed in the 7 keV iron K-shell absorption line (at 7.6 keV in the quasar frame), which is significantly weaker in 2005 than during the 2001 XMM-Newton observation. From a recombination timescale of <4 years, this implies an absorber density n>0.004 particles/cm3, while the absorber column is 5e22<N_H <1 1e24 particles/cm2. Thus the sizescale of the absorber is too compact (pc scale) and the surface brightness of the dense gas too high (by 9-10 orders of magnitude) to arise from local hot gas, such as the local bubble, group or Warm/Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM), as suggested by McKernan et al. (2004, 2005). Instead the iron K-shell absorption must be associated with an AGN outflow with mildly relativistic velocities. Finally we show that the the association of the absorption in PG1211+143 with local hot gas is simply a coincidence, the comparison between the recession and iron K absorber outflow velocities in other AGN does not reveal a one to one kinematic correlation.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

High Energy spectra of Seyferts and Unification schemes

The Unified Model of AGN predicts the sole difference between Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 nuclei is the viewing angle with respect to an obscuring structure around the nucleus. High energy photons above 20 keV are not affected by this absorption if the column is Compton thin, so their 30--100 keV spectra should be the same. However, the observed spectra at high energies appear to show a systematic difference, with Seyfert 1's having $Γ\sim $2.1 whereas Seyfert 2's are harder with $Γ\sim$ 1.9. We estimate the mass and accretion rate of Seyferts detected in these high energy samples and show that they span a wide range in $L/L_{Edd}$. Both black hole binary systems and AGN show a correlation between spectral softness and Eddington fraction, so these samples are probably heterogeneous, spanning a range of intrinsic spectral indices which are hidden in individual objects by poor signal-to-noise. However, the mean Eddington fraction for the Seyfert 1's is higher than for the Seyfert 2's, so the samples are consistent with this being the origin of the softer spectra seen in Seyfert 1's. We stress that high energy spectra alone are not necessarily a clean test of Unification schemes, but that the intrinsic nuclear properties should also change with $L/L_{Edd}$

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Suzaku wide-band X-ray Spectroscopy of the Seyfert 2 AGN in NGC 4945

Suzaku observed a nearby Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC4945, which hosts one of the brightest active galactic nuclei above 20 keV. Combining data from the X-ray CCD camera (XIS) and the Hard X-ray Detector (HXD), the AGN intrinsic nuclear emission and its reprocessed signals were observed simultaneously. The intrinsic emission is highly obscured with an absorbing column of $\sim 5 \times 10^{24}$ cm$^{-2}$, and was detectable only above $\sim 10$ keV. The spectrum below 10 keV is dominated by reflection continuum and emission lines from neutral/ionized material. Along with a neutral iron K$α$ line, a neutral iron K$β$ and a neutral nickel K$α$ line were detected for the first time from this source. The neutral lines and the cold reflection continuum are consistent with both originating in the same location. The Compton down-scattered shoulder in the neutral Fe-K$α$ line is $\sim 10%$ in flux of the narrow core, which confirms that the line originates from reflection rather than transmission. The weakness of the Compton shoulder also indicates that the reflector is probably seen nearly edge-on. Flux of the intrinsic emission varied by a factor of $\sim 2$ within $\sim 20$ ks, which requires the obscuring material to be geometrically thin. Broadband spectral modeling showed that the solid angle of the neutral reflector is less than a few $\times 10^{-2} \times 2π$. All this evidence regarding the reprocessed signals suggests that a disk-like absorber/reflector is viewed from a near edge-on angle.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2007

Modelling the behaviour of accretion flows in X-ray binaries

(abridged) We review how the recent increase in X-ray and radio data from black hole and neutron star binaries can be merged together with theoretical advances to give a coherent picture of the physics of the accretion flow in strong gravity. Both long term X-ray light curves, X-ray spectra, the rapid X-ray variability and the radio jet behaviour are consistent with a model where a standard outer accretion disc is truncated at low luminosities, being replaced by a hot, inner flow which also acts as the launching site of the jet. Decreasing the disc truncation radius leads to softer spectra, as well as higher frequencies (including QPO's) in the power spectra, and a faster jet. The collapse of the hot flow when the disc reaches the last stable orbit triggers the dramatic decrease in radio flux, as well as giving a qualitative (and often quantitative) explanation for the major hard--soft spectral transition seen in black holes and neutron stars. After collapse of the hot inner flow, the spectrum in black hole systems can be dominated by the disc emission. Its behaviour is consistent with the existence of a last stable orbit, and such data can be used to estimate the black hole spin. These systems can also show very different spectra at these high luminosities, in which the disc spectrum is strongly distorted by Comptonization. The structure of the accretion flow becomes increasingly uncertain as the luminosity approaches (and exceeds) the Eddington luminosity, though there is growing evidence that winds play an important role. We stress that these high Eddington fraction flows are key to understanding many disparate and currently very active fields such as ULX, Narrow Line Seyfert 1's, and the growth of the first black holes in the Early Universe.

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