arXiv subjects

Tod E. Strohmayer

Publications and source records attributed to Tod E. Strohmayer.

105 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2001

Discovery of a Second High Frequency QPO from the Microquasar GRS 1915+105

We report the discovery in archival Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) data of a 40 Hz quasiperiodic oscillation (QPO) in the hard X-ray flux from the galactic microquasar GRS 1915+105. The QPO is detected only in the hard X-ray band above 13 keV and was discovered in observations in which the previously known 67 Hz QPO is present. The 40 Hz QPO has a typical rms amplitude of 2 % in the 13 - 27 keV band, and a width of about 8.5 Hz (FWHM). We show that the 67 and 40 Hz QPOs are detected in the same observations in July and November, 1997. However, the QPO is not detected in observations from April, May and June, 1996 in which the 67 Hz QPO was first discovered. The frequency of the 67 Hz QPO is significantly higher in the 1997 observations by about 5 % compared with the 1996 data. The identification of the 40 Hz QPO makes GRS 1915+105 the second black hole binary to show a pair of simultaneous high frequency QPO (the other being GRO J1655-40). The similarities between the properties of the 67 Hz QPO in GRS 1915+105 and the recently discovered 450 Hz QPO in GRO J1655-40 suggest that the pairs of frequencies in these systems may be produced by the same physical mechanism, with the frequency differences between the two being likely due to different black hole masses in the two systems. We discuss the implications of our result for the mass and spin of GRS 1915+105 as well as for models of X-ray variability in black holes and neutron stars.

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arXiv2001

Discovery of a 450 Hz QPO from the Microquasar GRO J1655-40 with RXTE

We report the discovery with the proportional counter array (PCA) onboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) of a 450 Hz quasiperiodic oscillation (QPO) in the hard X-ray flux from the galactic microquasar GRO J1655-40. This is the highest frequency QPO modulation seen to date from a black hole. The QPO is detected only in the hard X-ray band above 13 keV. It is both strong and narrow, with a typical rms amplitude of 4.5 % in the 13 - 27 keV range, and a width of 40 Hz (FWHM). For two observations in which we detect the 450 Hz QPO a previously known 300 Hz QPO is also observed in the 2 - 13 keV band. We show that these two QPO sometimes appear simultaneously, thus demonstrating the first detection of a pair of high frequency QPO in a black hole system. Prior to this, pairs of high frequency QPO have only been detected in neutron star systems. GRO J1655-40 is one of only a handful of black hole systems with a good dynamical mass constraint. For a non-rotating black hole with mass between 5.5 - 7.9 solar masses, the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) ranges from 45 - 70 km. For any mass in this range the radius at which the orbital frequency reaches 450 Hz is less than the ISCO radius, indicating that if the modulation is caused by Kepler motion, the black hole must have appreciable spin. If the QPO frequency is set by the orbital frequency of matter at the ISCO then for this mass range the dimensionless angular momentum lies between 0.15 < j < 0.5. Moreover, if the modulation is caused by oscillation modes in the disk or Lense-Thirring precession, then this would also require a rapidly rotating hole. We briefly discuss the implications of our findings for models of X-ray variability in black holes and neutron stars.

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arXiv2001

Oscillations During Thermonuclear X-ray Bursts

High amplitude, nearly coherent X-ray brightness oscillations during thermonuclear X-ray bursts were discovered with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) in early 1996. Spectral and timing evidence strongly supports the conclusion that these oscillations are caused by rotational modulation of the burst emission and that they reveal the spin frequency of neutron stars in low mass X-ray binaries, a long sought goal of X-ray astronomy. Studies carried out over the past year have led to the discovery of burst oscillations in four new sources, bringing to ten the number with confirmed burst oscillations. I review the status of our knowledge of these oscillations and indicate how they can be used to probe the physics of neutron stars. For a few burst oscillation sources it has been proposed that the strongest and most ubiquitous frequency is actually the first overtone of the spin frequency and hence that two nearly antipodal hot spots are present on the neutron star. This inference has important implications for both the physics of thermonuclear burning as well as the mass - radius relation for neutron stars, so its confirmation is crucial. I discuss recent attempts to confirm this hypothesis for 4U 1636-53, the source for which a signal at the putative fundamental (290 Hz) has been claimed.

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arXiv2001

X-ray Observations of Neutron Star Binaries: Evidence for Millisecond Spins

High amplitude X-ray brightness oscillations during thermonuclear X-ray bursts were discovered with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) in early 1996. Spectral and timing evidence strongly supports the conclusion that these oscillations are caused by rotational modulation of the burst emission and that they reveal the spin frequency of neutron stars in low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB), a long sought goal of X-ray astronomy. I briefly review the status of our knowledge of these oscillations. So far 10 neutron star systems have been observed to produce burst oscillations, interestingly, the observed frequencies cluster in a fairly narrow range from about 300 - 600 Hz, well below the break-up frequency for most modern neutron star equations of state (EOS). This has led to suggestions that their spin frequencies may be limited by the loss of angular momentum due to gravitational wave emission. Connections with gravity wave rotational instabilities will be briefly described.

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arXiv2000

An Unusual Burst from Soft Gamma Repeater SGR 1900+14: Comparisons with Giant Flares and Implications for the Magnetar Model

The Soft Gamma Repeater SGR 1900+14 entered a remarkable phase of activity during the summer of 1998. This activity peaked on August 27, 1998 when a giant periodic gamma-ray flare resembling the famous March 5, 1979 event from SGR 0526-66 was recorded. Two days later (August 29), a strong, bright burst was detected with RXTE and BATSE. This event reveals several similarities to the giant flares of August 27 and March 5, and shows a number of unique features not previously seen in SGR bursts. Unlike typically short SGR bursts, this event features a 3.5 s burst peak that was preceded by an extended (~ 1 s) complex precursor, and followed by a long (~ 1000 s) periodic tail modulated at the 5.16 s stellar rotation period. Spectral analysis shows a striking distinction between the spectral behavior of the precursor, burst peak and extended tail. While the spectrum during the peak is uniform, a significant spectral evolution is detected in both the precursor and tail emissions. Temporal behavior shows a sharp rise (~ 9.8 ms) at the event onset and a rapid cutoff (~ 17 ms) at the end of the burst peak. The tail pulsations show a simple pulse profile consisting of one 5.16 s peak that did not evolve with time. The spectral and temporal signatures of this event imply that the precursor, main peak, and extended tail are produced by different physical mechanisms. We discuss these features and their implications in the context of the magnetar model. The energetics of the August 29 event, and its close proximity to the August 27 flare, suggest that it is an `aftershock' of the preceding giant flare. "P.S. This is an abbreviated version of the original abstract."

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arXiv2000

Discovery of a 6.4 keV Emission Line in a Burst from SGR 1900+14

We present evidence of a 6.4 keV emission line during a burst from the soft gamma-ray repeater SGR 1900+14. The Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) monitored this source extensively during its outburst in the summer of 1998. A strong burst observed on August 29, 1998 revealed a number of unique properties. The burst exhibits a precursor and is followed by a long (~ 1000 s) tail modulated at the 5.16 s stellar rotation period. The precursor has a duration of 0.85 s and shows both significant spectral evolution as well as an emission feature centered near 6.4 keV during the first 0.3 s of the event, when the X-ray spectrum was hardest. The continuum during the burst is well fit with an optically thin thermal bremsstrahlung (OTTB) spectrum with the temperature ranging from about 40 to 10 keV. The line is strong, with an equivalent width of 400 eV, and is consistent with Fe K-alpha fluorescence from relatively cool material. If the rest-frame energy is indeed 6.4 keV, then the lack of an observed redshift indicates that the source is at least 80 km above the neutron star surface. We discuss the implications of the line detection in the context of models for SGRs.

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arXiv1999

Phase Resolved Spectroscopy of Burst Oscillations: Searching for Rotational Doppler Shifts

X-ray brightness oscillations with frequencies from 300 - 600 Hz have been observed in six low mass X-ray binary (LMXB) bursters with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). These oscillations likely result from spin modulation of a hot region on the stellar surface produced by thermonuclear burning. If this hypothesis is correct the rotational velocity of the stellar surface, $\approx 0.1 c$, will introduce a pulse phase dependent Doppler shift such that the rising edge of a pulse should be harder (blue shifted) than the trailing edge (red shifted). Detection of this effect would both provide further compelling evidence for the spin modulation hypothesis as well as providing new observational techniques with which to constrain the masses and radii of neutron stars. In this work I present results of an attempt to search for such Doppler shifts.

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arXiv1999

Oscillations During Thermonuclear X-ray Bursts: A New Probe of Neutron Stars

Observations of thermonuclear (Type I) X-ray bursts from neutron stars in low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB) with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) have revealed large amplitude, high coherence X-ray brightness oscillations with frequencies in the 300 - 600 Hz range. Substantial spectral and timing evidence point to rotational modulation of the X-ray burst flux as the cause of these oscillations, and it is likely that they reveal the spin frequencies of neutron stars in LMXB from which they are detected. Here I review the status of our knowledge of these oscillations and describe how they can be used to constrain the masses and radii of neutron stars as well as the physics of thermonuclear burning on accreting neutron stars.

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arXiv1999

Spin Down of Pulsations in the Cooling Tail of an X-ray Burst from 4U 1636-53

We report the discovery with the proportional counter array (PCA) onboard the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) of a decrease in the frequency of X-ray brightness oscillations in the cooling tail of an X-ray burst from 4U 1636-53. This is the first direct evidence for a spin down of the pulsations seen during thermonuclear bursts. We find that the spin down episode is correlated with the appearance in this burst of an extended tail of emission. We present both time resolved energy and variability spectra during this burst and compare them with results from a second burst which shows neither a spin down episode nor an extended tail. A spectral evolution study of the ``spin down'' burst reveals a secondary signature of weak radius expansion, not seen in other bursts, and correlated with the spin down episode, which may indicate a secondary thermonuclear energy release. We interpret the spin down episode in the context of an angular momentum conserving shell, which is reexpanded and therefore spun down by an additional thermonuclear energy release which could also explain the extended X-ray tail.

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arXiv1999

On the Frequency Evolution of X-ray Brightness Oscillations During Thermonuclear X-ray Bursts: Evidence for Coherent Oscillations

We investigate the time dependence of the frequency of X-ray brightness oscillations during thermonuclear bursts from several neutron star low mass X-ray binaries. We find that the oscillation frequencies in the cooling tails of X-ray bursts from 4U 1702-429 and 4U 1728-34 are well described by an exponential "chirp" model. With this model we demonstrate that the pulse trains in the cooling tails of many bursts are highly phase coherent, having oscillation quality factors as high as Q ~ 4000. We use this model of the frequency evolution to search sensitively for significant power at the harmonics and first sub-harmonic of the 330 and 363 Hz signals in bursts from 4U 1702-429 and 4U 1728-34, respectively, but find not evidence for significant power at any harmonic or the sub-harmonic. We argue that the high coherence favors stellar rotation as the source of the oscillations. We briefly discuss the frequency evolution in terms of rotational motion of an angular momentum conserving thermonuclear shell. we discuss how the limits on harmonic content can be used to infer properties of the neutron star.

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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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arXiv1998

X-ray Spectroscopy of Bursts from SGR 1806-20 with RXTE

We report on new RXTE X-ray spectral analysis of bursts from SGR 1806-20, the most prolific SGR source known. Previous studies of bursts from this source revealed a remarkable lack of spectral variability both in single bursts as well as from burst to burst. We present here some of the first evidence for significant spectral evolution within SGR bursts. We find that optically thin thermal bremsstrahlung (OTTB) spectra including photoelectric absorption provide the best fits to most bursts, however, other models (power law, Band GRB) can also produce statistically acceptable fits. We confirm the existence of a rolloff in the photon number spectrum below 5 keV.

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arXiv1998

RXTE Observations of GX 3+1

We summarize new RXTE observations to search for millisecond X-ray variability from the bright Galactic bulge source GX 3+1. During a short 2 ksec observation we did not detect kilohertz (kHz) quasiperiodic oscillations (QPO). We place an upper limit of about 1 % (rms) on the amplitude of such oscillations.

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