arXiv subjects

Jean H. Swank

Publications and source records attributed to Jean H. Swank.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2001

X-Ray Observations of Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries: Accretion Instabilities on Long and Short Time-Scales

X-rays trace accretion onto compact objects in binaries with low mass companions at rates ranging up to near Eddington. Accretion at high rates onto neutron stars goes through cycles with time-scales of days to months. At lower average rates the sources are recurrent transients; after months to years of quiescence, during a few weeks some part of a disk dumps onto the neutron star. Quasiperiodic oscillations near 1 kHz in the persistent X-ray flux attest to circular motion close to the surface of the neutron star. The neutron stars are probably inside their innermost stable circular orbits and the x-ray oscillations reflect the structure of that region. The long term variations show us the phenomena for a range of accretion rates. For black hole compact objects in the binary, the disk flow tends to be in the transient regime. Again, at high rates of flow from the disk to the black hole there are quasiperiodic oscillations in the frequency range expected for the innermost part of an accretion disk. There are differences between the neutron star and black hole systems, such as two oscillation frequencies versus one. For both types of compact object there are strong oscillations below 100 Hz. Interpretations differ on the role of the nature of the compact object.

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arXiv2000

Observations of Type I Bursts from Neutron Stars

Observations of Type I X-ray bursts have long been taken as evidence that the sources are neutron stars. Black body models approximate the spectral data and imply a suddenly heated neutron star cooling over characteristic times of seconds to minutes. The phenomena are convincingly explained in terms of nuclear burning of accreted gas on neutron stars with low mass companion stars. Prospects are promising that detailed theory and data from RXTE and future missions will lead to better determinations of important physical parameters (neutron star mass and radius, composition of the accreting gas, distance of the source). Among the variety of bursts observed, there are probably representatives of different kinds of explosive burning. RXTE's discovery of a 2.5 ms persistent coherent period from one Type I burster has now linked bursters indisputably to the epitome of a neutron star, a fast spinning magnetic compact object. Oscillations in some bursts had already been thought to arise from the neutron stars' rotations. Detailed observations of these oscillations are touchstones of how the explosive bursts originate and progress, as well as independent measures of the neutron star parameters.

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arXiv1999

Variable-Frequency QPOs from the Galactic Microquasar GRS 1915+105

We show that the galactic microquasar GRS 1915+105 exhibits quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) whose frequency varies continuously from 1-15 Hz, during spectrally hard dips when the source is in a flaring state. We report here analyses of simultaneous energy spectra and power density spectra at 4 s intervals. The energy spectrum is well fit at each time step by an optically thick accretion disk plus power law model, while the power density spectrum consists of a varying red noise component plus the variable frequency QPO. The features of both spectra are strongly correlated with one another. The 1-15 Hz QPOs appear when the power law component becomes hard and intense, and themselves have an energy spectrum consistent with the power law component (with root mean square amplitudes as high as 10%). The frequency of the oscillations, however, is most strikingly correlated with the parameters of the thermal disk component. The tightest correlation is between QPO frequency and the disk X-ray flux. This fact indicates that the properties of the QPO are not determined by solely a disk or solely a corona.

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arXiv1998

Observation of Kilohertz Quasiperiodic Oscillations from the Atoll Source 4U 1702-429

We present results of Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (XTE) observations of the atoll source 4U 1702-429 in the middle of its luminosity range. Kilohertz-range quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) were observed first as a narrow (FWHM ~7 Hz) peak near 900 Hz, and later as a pair consisting of a narrow peak in the range 625--825 Hz and a faint broad (FWHM 91 Hz) peak. When the two peaks appeared simultaneously the separation was 333 +/- 5 Hz. Six type I thermonuclear bursts were detected, of which five exhibited almost coherent oscillations near 330 Hz, which makes 4U 1702-429 only the second source to show burst oscillations very close to the kilohertz QPO separation frequency. The energy spectrum and color-color diagram indicate that the source executed variations in the range between the ``island'' and ``lower banana'' atoll states. In addition to the kilohertz variability, oscillations at ~10, ~35, and 80 Hz were also detected at various times, superimposed on a red noise continuum. The centroid of the \~35 Hz QPO tracks the frequency of the kilohertz oscillation when they were both present. A Lense-Thirring gravitomagnetic precession interpretation appears more plausible in this case, compared to other atoll sources with low frequency QPOs.

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arXiv1998

The Long Term Stability of Oscillations During Thermonuclear X-ray Bursts: Constraining the Binary X-ray Mass Function

We report on the long term stability of the millisecond oscillations observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) during thermonuclear X-ray bursts from the low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB) 4U 1728-34 and 4U 1636-53. We show that bursts from 4U 1728-34 spanning more than 1.5 years have observed asymptotic oscillation periods which are within 0.2 microsec. of each other, well within the magnitude which could be produced by the orbital motion of the neutron star in a typical LMXB. This stability implies a timescale to change the oscillation period of > 23,000 years, suggesting a highly stable process such as stellar rotation as the oscillation mechanism. We show that period offsets in three distinct bursts from 4U 1636-53 can be plausibly interpreted as due to orbital motion of the neutron star in this 3.8 hour binary system. We discuss the constraints on the mass function which can in principle be derived using this technique.

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arXiv1998

On the Amplitude of Burst Oscillations in 4U 1636-54: Evidence for Nuclear Powered Pulsars

We present a study of 581 Hz oscillations observed during a thermonuclear X-ray burst from the low mass X-ray binary (LMXB) 4U 1636-54 with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). We argue that the combination of large pulsed amplitudes near burst onset and the spectral evidence for localized emission during the rise strongly supports rotational modulation as the mechanism for the oscillations. We discuss how theoretical interpretation of spin modulation amplitudes, pulse profiles and pulse phase spectroscopy can provide constraints on the masses and radii of neutron stars. We also discuss the implication of these findings for the beat frequency models of kHz X-ray variability in LMXB.

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arXiv1997

Rapid Bursts From GRS 1915+105 with RXTE

The light curves of GRS 1915+105 observed with RXTE on October 15, 1996 reveal a wide range of transient activity including regular bursts with a recurrence time of about 1 minute, irregular bursts, and dips. In contrast to bursts from other sources, a secondary (and a tertiary) weaker burst immediately following the primary burst are observed. Detailed energy spectra indicate that the source softens during the main outburst and successively hardens during the secondary and tertiary bursts. This may imply that the accretion flow has a corona-disk configuration and that the relative contribution of the hot corona decreases during the primary bursts and increases during the secondary and tertiary bursts. The primary burst profile resembles the bursts produced in the time dependent evolutions of accretion disks which are thermally and viscously unstable. The secondary burst may reflect an inward shift of the inner edge of the disk which results in a greater release of gravitational binding energy.

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arXiv1996

The Pattern of Correlated X-ray Timing and Spectral Behavior in GRS 1915+105

From data obtained from the PCA in the 2-11 keV and 11-30.5 keV energy range, GRS 1915+105 is seen during RXTE observations between 1996 May and October on two separate branches in a hardness intensity diagram. On the hard branch, GRS 1915+105 exhibits narrow quasi-periodic oscillations ranging from 0.5 to 6 Hz with ${Δν\over ν} \sim 0.2$. The QPOs are observed over intensities ranging from about 6,000 to 20,000 counts s$^{-1}$ in the 2 - 12.5 keV energy band, indicating a strong dependence on source intensity. Strong harmonics are seen, especially, at lower frequencies. As the QPO frequency increases, the harmonic feature weakens and disappears. On the soft branch, narrow QPOs are absent and the low frequency component of the power density spectrum is approximated by a power-law, with index $\sim -1.25$ for low count rates and $\sim -1.5$ for high count rates ($\gta 18000$ cts/s). Occasionally, a broad peaked feature in the 1-6 Hz frequency range is also observed on this branch. The source was probably in the very high state similar to those of other black hole candidates. Thermal-viscous instabilities in accretion disk models do not predict the correlation of the narrow QPO frequency and luminosity unless the fraction of luminosity from the disk decreases with the total luminosity.

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