arXiv subjects

Tomaso Belloni

Publications and source records attributed to Tomaso Belloni.

89 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2003

Evidence for local mass accretion rate variations in the disc of GRS 1915+105

We have analysed 16 observations of class beta of GRS 1915+105 performed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We show the time-resolved evolution (every 16 seconds) of the X-ray spectral parameters during these observations. The three model independent states (A, B, C) identified in the color-color diagrams are described here in terms of the more physical (and model dependent) quantities of the disc and power law components. As in the color analysis, we observe specific and time-asymmetric transitions between states. Within a single observation, we identified a loop-like cycle of the power law spectral index that starts and ends with the ending of state C. There is evidence of local mass accretion rate variations and mass loss during the long instability intervals (long state C). This is consistent with simultaneous radio and X-ray observations that show a one-to-one relation between the long state C and the radio flares, that occur shortly after it: a loss of disc mass is followed by an ejection of matter in the jet.

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arXiv2002

Chandra Observations of the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar 4U 0142+61

We present X-ray imaging, timing, and phase resolved spectroscopy of the anomalous X-ray pulsar 4U 0142+61 using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The spectrum is well described by a power law plus blackbody model with power law index = 3.35(2), kT_BB=0.458(3) keV, and N_H=0.91(2) x 10^{22} cm^{-2}$; we find no significant evidence for spectral features (0.5-7.0 keV). Time resolved X-ray spectroscopy shows evidence for evolution in phase in either index, or KT_BB, or some combination thereof as a function of pulse phase. We derive a precise X-ray position for the source and determine its spin period, P=8.68866(30) s. We have detected emission beyond 4 arcsec from the central source and extending beyond 100 arcsec, likely due to dust scattering in the interstellar medium.

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arXiv2002

High frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in the black hole X-ray transient XTE J1650-500

We report the detection of high frequency variability in the black hole X-ray transient XTE J1650-500. A quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) was found at 250 Hz during a transition from the hard to the soft state. We also detected less coherent variability around 50 Hz, that disappeared when the 250 Hz QPO showed up. There are indications that when the energy spectrum hardened the QPO frequency increased from ~110 Hz to ~270 Hz, although the observed frequencies are also consistent with being 1:2:3 harmonics of each other. Interpreting the 250 Hz as the orbital frequency at the innermost stable orbit around a Schwarzschild black hole leads to a mass estimate of 8.2 Msun. The spectral results by Miller et al.(2002, ApJ, 570, L69), which suggest considerable black hole spin, would imply a higher mass.

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arXiv2002

GRS 1915+105: Ten Years After

It is now ten years since the first microquasar GRS 1915+105 was discovered. More than six years of observations with RossiXTE have shown a level of variability never observed in any other X-ray source. Here I try to address some issues, based on X-ray observations only, that have relevance for theoretical modeling. First, I ignore these peculiarities and concentrate on the similarities with other X-ray transients. Then I focus on the peculiar variability and present a number of obervational facts that need to be addressed by theoretical models.

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arXiv2002

A Unified Description of the Timing Features of Accreting X-ray Binaries

We study an empirical model for a unified description of the power spectra of accreting neutron stars and black holes. This description is based on a superposition of multiple Lorentzians and offers the advantage that all QPO and noise components are dealt with in the same way, without the need of deciding in advance the nature of each component. This approach also allows us to compare frequencies of features with high and low coherences in a consistent manner and greatly facilitates comparison of power spectra across a wide range of source types and states. We apply the model to six sources, the low-luminosity X-ray bursters 1E 1724-3045, SLX 1735-269 and GS 1826-24, the high-latitude transient XTE J1118+480, the bright system Cir X-1, and the Z source GX 17+2. We find that it provides a good description of the observed spectra, without the need for a scale-free (1/f) component. We update previously reported correlations between characteristic frequencies of timing features in the light of this new approach and discuss similarities between different types of systems which may point towards similar underlying physics.

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arXiv2001

Transient Phenomena and Outbursts from Galactic Black-Hole Candidates

The RossiXTE mission provided us with an unprecedentedly large database of X-ray observations of transient black-hole candidates. These systems are crucial for the understanding of the physical properties of mass accretion onto black holes. Here I review the results on a selected sample of systems and describe their behavior in a purely phenomenological way. From these results, we can derive a better classification of the spectral and timing characteristics of black hole candidates in terms of basic states.

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arXiv2001

A multi-Lorentzian timing study of the atoll sources 4U 0614+09 and 4U 1728-34

We present the results of a multi-Lorentzian fit to the power spectra of two kilohertz QPO sources; 4U 0614+09 and 4U 1728-34. This work was triggered by recent results of a similar fit to the black-hole candidates (BHCs) GX 339-4 and Cyg X-1 by Nowak in 2000. We find that one to six Lorentzians are needed to fit the power spectra of our two sources. The use of exactly the same fit function reveals that the timing behaviour of 4U 0614+09 and 4U 1728-34 is almost identical at luminosities which are about a factor 5 different. As the characteristic frequency of the Lorentzians we use the frequency, nu_max, at which each component contributes most of its variance per log frequency as proposed by Belloni, Psaltis & van der Klis in 2001. When using nu_max instead of the centroid frequency of the Lorentzian, the recently discovered hectohertz Lorentzian is practically constant in frequency. We use our results to test the suggestions by, respectively, Psaltis Belloni and van der Klis in 1999 and Nowak in 2000 that the two Lorentzians describing the high-frequency end of the broad-band noise in BHCs in the low state can be identified with the kilohertz QPOs in the neutron star low mass X-ray binaries. We find, that when the two kilohertz QPOs are clearly present, the low-frequency part of the power spectrum is too complicated to draw immediate conclusions from the nature of the components detected in any one power spectrum. However, the relations we observe between the characteristic frequencies of the kilohertz QPOs and the band-limited noise, when compared to the corresponding relations in BHCs, hint towards the identification of the second-highest frequency Lorentzian in the BHCs with the lower kilohertz QPO. They do not confirm the identification of the highest-frequency Lorentzian with the upper kilohertz QPO.

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arXiv2001

Discovery of a kHz QPO in 2S 0918-549

We report the discovery of a kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillation (kHz QPO) in the low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) 2S 0918-549. The kHz QPO has a frequency of 1156+-9 Hz, a FWHM of 70+-20 Hz, and a fractional rms amplitude of 18%+-2%. We also detected for the first time a type I X-ray burst in this source. The compact object must therefore be a neutron star. Finally, we were able to classify the source as an atoll source exhibiting the full complement of spectral/timing states of this class (island and banana). From the peak burst flux an upper limit on the persistent luminosity can be derived of 0.5% of the Eddington luminosity, making 2S 0918-549 one of the least luminous LMXBs showing a kHz QPO. We compare the fractional rms amplitudes of the upper kHz QPO across the ensemble of LMXBs. We find a strong anticorrelation with luminosity. In LMXBs with luminosities ~100 times lower than those of Z-sources, the fractional rms amplitude is a factor ~10 larger.

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arXiv2000

Inner disk oscillations

The RXTE observations of GRS 1915+105 have given a new impulse to the study of spectral and timing properties of the X-ray emission of black hole candidates. At variance with any other known source, GRS 1915+105 shows dramatic changes on time scales as short as a tenth of a second. These changes are associated to marked spectral changes which have been interpreted as changes of the observable inner radius of the accretion disk. I review the existing results and discuss the current evidence for such disk oscillations. Independently of the precise theoretical models, the detailed study of these fast variations can provide an extremely valuable insight on the accretion processes onto black holes. Making use of these results, I compare the properties of GRS 1915+105 with those of other black hole

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arXiv2000

Correlated X-ray Spectral and Timing Behavior of the Black Hole Candidate XTE J1550-564: A New Interpretation of Black Hole States

We present an analysis of RXTE data of the X-ray transient XTE J1550-564. The source went through several states, which were divided into spectrally soft and hard states. These states showed up as distinct branches in the color-color diagram, forming a structure with a comb-like topology; the soft state branch forming the spine and the hard state branches forming the teeth. Variability was strongly correlated with the position on the branches. The broad band noise became stronger, and changed from power law like to band limited, as the spectrum became harder. Three types of QPOs were found: 1-18 Hz and 102-284 Hz QPOs on the hard branches, and 16-18 Hz QPOs on and near the soft branch. The frequencies of the high and low frequency QPOs on the hard branches were correlated with each other, and anti-correlated with spectral hardness. The changes in QPO frequency suggest that the inner disc radius only increases by a factor of 3-4 as the source changes from a soft to a hard state. Our results on XTE J1550-564 strongly favor a 2-dimensional description of black hole behavior, where the regions near the spine of the comb in the color-color diagram can be identified with the high state, and the teeth with transitions from the high state, via the intermediate state (which includes the very high state) to the low state, and back. The two physical parameters underlying this behavior vary to a large extent independently and could for example be the mass accretion rate through the disk and the size of a Comptonizing region.

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arXiv1999

Broad Band X-ray Spectra of M31 Sources with BeppoSAX

We present the first spectral study of the X-ray emitting stellar sources in M31 in the energy band from 0.1 to 10 keV. We find that the globular cluster sources have spectral characteristics consistent with those of the Milky Way object, namely that the spectrum can be described by a thermal model with 6-20 keV from 2 to 10 keV. Evidence of high absorption in some of these sources is most likely an indication that they lie in or behind the HI ring in the disk of the galaxy. We also find one peculiar globular cluster source, with spectral characteristics more typically associated with either High Mass X-ray Binaries or black hole candidates. We therefore suggest that either the source has been wrongly identified with a globular cluster or that the system contains a Black Hole. We confirm earlier report that the spectrum of the bulge of M31 is consistent with the superposition of many LMXB spectra. It is likely that a large fraction of the 15-30 keV detection obtained from the PDS instrument is associated with the bulge, thus extending the spectral data for this complex of sources up to 30 keV. The high energy part of the spectrum can be parameterized with typical LMXB spectra, while at low energies an additional component is required.

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arXiv1999

Correlations in Quasi-Periodic Oscillation and Noise Frequencies Among Neutron-Star and Black-Hole X-ray Binaries

We study systematically the ~0.1-1200 Hz quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) and broad noise components observed in the power spectra of non-pulsing neutron-star and black-hole low-mass X-ray binaries. We show that among these components we can identify two, occurring over a wide range of source types and luminosities, whose frequencies follow a tight correlation. The variability components involved in this correlation include neutron-star kilohertz QPOs and horizontal-branch oscillations, as well as black-hole QPOs and noise components. Our results suggest that the same types of variability may occur in both neutron-star and black-hole systems over three orders of magnitude in frequency and with coherences that vary widely but systematically. Confirmation of this hypothesis will strongly constrain theoretical models of these phenomena and provide additional clues to understanding their nature.

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arXiv1998

Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Black Hole Candidates as an Indicator of Transition Between Low and High States

By comparing positions on a spectral color-color diagram from 10 black hole candidates (BHCs) observed with Ginga (1354-64, 1826-24, 1630-47, LMC X-1, LMC X-3, GS 2000+25, GS 2023+33, GS 1124-68, Cyg X-1, and GX 339-4) with the observed broad-band noise (0.001-64 Hz; BBN) and quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) variability, we find that the so-called ``Very High State'' is spectrally intermediate to the Soft/High-State and Hard/Low-State. We find a transition point in spectral hardness where the dependence of the BHC QPO centroid frequency (of GS 1124-68 and GX 339-4) on spectral hardness switches from a correlation to an anti-correlation; where the BBN variability switches from High-State to Low-State; and where the spectral hardness of the QPO relative to that of the BBN variability is a maximum. This coincidence of changing behavior in both the QPO and the broad-band variability leads us to hypothesize that the QPO is due to interaction between the physical components which dominate the behaviors of BHCs when they occupy the Hard/Low and Soft/High States. We conclude that these QPO should be observed from BHCs during transition between these two states. Comparison with QPO and BBN behavior observed during the 1996 transition of Cyg X-1 supports this hypothesis. We also report 1-3 Hz QPO observed in GS 2000+25 and Cyg X-1 in the Hard/Low State, and we compare these to the QPO observed in GS 1124-68 and GX 339-4.

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arXiv1998

``Canonical'' Black Hole States in the Superluminal Source GRO J1655-40

We analyze RXTE/PCA observations of the black hole candidate and galactic superluminal source GRO J1655-40 during its recent outburst. We show that during its decay to quiescence, GRO J1655-40 goes through the high, intermediate, and low state (and that at the beginning of its decay it might have even shown signatures of a very high state), just like other black hole candidates. This is the first time that such a transition is observed in a galactic superluminal source. We discuss what are the implications of these results on the hypothesis that the spin of the black hole in superluminal sources is much higher than in other black hole candidates.

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arXiv1997

Absorption dips in GRO J1655-40: mapping the inner accretion disk

Using the RXTE PCA we discovered dips in the X-ray light curves of the black-hole candidate GRO J1655-40 during outburst. They are short (~minute) and deep (down to ~8% of the out-of-dip intensity). Similar kind of dips were found in 90s measurements of the RXTE ASM during the same outburst. The occurrences of the dips are consistent with the optically determined orbital period, and were found between photometric orbital phases 0.72 and 0.86. This constitutes the first evidence for orbital variations in X-rays for GRO J1655-40. The PCA data indicate that an absorbing medium is responsible for these dips. Using these results we are able constrain the extent of the absorbing medium and the central X-ray source. GRO J1655-40 was in the canonical high state during our PCA observations.

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arXiv1997

Absorption dips in the light curves of GRO J1655-40 and 4U 1630-47 during outburst

Using the RXTE PCA we discovered deep dips in the X-ray light curves of the black-hole candidates GRO J1655-40 and 4U 1630-47 during outburst. Similar kind of dips for GRO J1655-40 were found in 90s measurements of the RXTE ASM during the same outburst. The duration of the dips in both sources is in the order of minutes. The occurrences of the dips observed with the RXTE PCA and ASM in GRO J1655-40 are consistent with the optically determined orbital period, and were found between photometric orbital phases 0.72 and 0.86. This constitutes the first evidence for orbital variations in X-rays for GRO J1655-40. The PCA data indicate that an absorbing medium is responsible for these dips. The X-ray spectra during the dips can be best described by a heavily absorbed component and an unabsorbed component. In the case of GRO J1655-40 we are able constrain the extent of the absorbing medium and the central X-ray source.

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arXiv1996

Search for Old Neutron Stars in molecular clouds: Cygnus Rift and Cygnus OB7

We present the results of a systematic search for old isolated neutron stars (ONSs) in the direction of two giant molecular clouds in Cygnus (Rift and OB7). From theoretical calculations, we expect the detection of a large number of ONSs with the PSPC on board ROSAT. By analyzing the PSPC pointings in the direction of the clouds, we find four sources characterized by count rates ($\sim 10^{-3}$ c s$^{-1}$) and spectral properties consistent with the hypothesis that the X--ray radiation is produced by ONSs and also characterized by the absence of any measurable optical counterpart within their error circle in the digitized red plates of the Palomar All Sky Survey. The importance of follow--up deep observations in the direction of these ONS candidates is discussed. The observational and theoretical approach presented here could be fruitfully applied also to the systematic search for ONSs in other regions of the Galaxy.

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