A rapid change in X-ray variability and a jet ejection in the black hole transient MAXI J1820+070
Jeroen Homan, Joe Bright, Sara E. Motta, Diego Altamirano, Zaven Arzoumanian, Arkadip Basak, Tomaso M. Belloni, Edward M. Cackett, Rob Fender, Keith C. Gendreau… 展开作者
Jeroen Homan, Joe Bright, Sara E. Motta, Diego Altamirano, Zaven Arzoumanian, Arkadip Basak, Tomaso M. Belloni, Edward M. Cackett, Rob Fender, Keith C. Gendreau, Erin Kara, Dheeraj R. Pasham, Ronald A. Remillard, James F. Steiner, Abigail L. Stevens, Phil Uttley
We present Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer X-ray and Arcminute Microkelvin Imager Large Array radio observations of a rapid hard-to-soft state transition in the black hole X-ray transient MAXI J1820+070. During the transition from the hard state to the soft state a switch between two particular types of quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) was seen in the X-ray power density spectra, from type-C to type-B, along with a drop in the strength of the broadband X-ray variability and a brief flare in the 7-12 keV band. Soon after this switch (~1.5-2.5 hr) a strong radio flare was observed that corresponded to the launch of superluminal ejecta. Although hints of a connection between QPO transitions and radio flares have been seen in other black hole X-ray transients, our observations constitute the strongest observational evidence to date for a link between the appearance of type-B QPOs and the launch of discrete jet ejections.
The Galactic X-ray transient XTE J1752-223 was shown to have properties of black hole binary candidates. As reported in our previous paper, we identified transient and decelerating ejecta in multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observations with the European VLBI Network (EVN) and the NRAO Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). Here we present new EVN and VLBA data in which a new transient ejection event and later a stationary component are identified. The latter is interpreted as a reappearance of the radio core/compact jet during the transition from soft to hard X-ray state. This c…
Aims: We summarize the current observational picture of the outbursts of black-hole X-ray transients (BHTs), based on the evolution traced in a hardness-luminosity diagram (HLD), and we offer a physical interpretation. Methods: The basic ingredient in our interpretation is the Poynting-Robertson Cosmic Battery (PRCB, Contopoulos & Kazanas 1998), which provides locally the poloidal magnetic field needed for the ejection of the jet. In addition, we make two assumptions, easily justifiable. The first is that the mass-accretion rate to the black hole in a BHT outburst has a generic bell-shaped for…
There is accumulating evidence for mass ejection in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) driven by radio pulsar activity during X-ray quiescence. In this paper we consider the condition for mass ejection by comparing the radiation pressure from a millisecond pulsar, and the gas pressure at the inner Lagrange point or at the surrounding accretion disk. We calculate the critical spin period of the pulsar below which mass ejection is allowed. Combining with the evolution of the mass transfer rate, we present constraints on the orbital periods of the systems. We show that mass ejection could happen in …
The supersoft X-ray and optical transient ASASSN-16oh has been interpreted by Maccarone et al. (2019) as having being induced by an accretion event on a massive white dwarf, resembling a dwarf nova super-outburst. These authors argued that the supersoft X-ray spectrum had a different origin than in an atmosphere heated by shell nuclear burning, because no mass was ejected. We find instead that the event's timescale and other characteristics are typical of non-mass ejecting thermonuclear runaways, as already predicted by Shara et al. (1977) and the extensive grid of nova models by Yaron et al. …
The last two decades have seen a great improvement in our understand- ing of the complex phenomenology observed in transient black-hole binary systems, especially thanks to the activity of the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer satellite, com- plemented by observations from many other X-ray observatories and ground-based radio, optical and infrared facilities. Accretion alone cannot describe accurately the intricate behavior associated with black-hole transients and it is now clear that the role played by different kinds of (often massive) outflows seen at different phases of the outburst evolution o…
Two types of radio emission are observed from X-ray binaries with jets. They have completely different characteristics and are associated with different kinds of ejections. One kind of emission has a flat or inverted spectrum indicating optically thick self-absorbed synchrotron emission; the second kind of emission corresponds to an optically thin "transient" outburst. The flat or inverted spectrum covers the whole radio band and has been established also at millimeter and infrared wavelengths. When this kind of radio emission is spatially resolved it appears as a continuous jet, the so-called…
We revisit the discovery outburst of the X-ray transient XTE J1550-564 during which relativistic jets were observed in 1998 September, and review the radio images obtained with the Australian Long Baseline Array, and lightcurves obtained with the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope and the Australia Telescope Compact Array. Based on HI spectra, we constrain the source distance to between 3.3 and 4.9 kpc. The radio images, taken some two days apart, show the evolution of an ejection event. The apparent separation velocity of the two outermost ejecta is at least 1.3c and may be as large as …
Optical outburst evolution of the transient black hole X-ray binary Swift J1727.8-1613: Disc response to jet ejections and late-outburst emergence of powerful disc winds
We analyze the outcome of the interaction between a stellar binary and a supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) by performing a large number of gravitational scattering experiments. Most of the encounters result in either the ejection of an intact binary or the ejection of two individual stars following the tidal breakup of the binary. However, tidal disruption events (TDEs) and mergers constitute a few percent of the outcomes, and double, temporally distinct TDEs (i.e., separated by at least one orbit of the supermassive black hole binary) occur at the percent level. We also demonstrate that …
In this paper, we attempt to find out the `spectro-temporal' characteristics during the jet ejection, of several outbursting Galactic black hole sources based on RXTE-PCA/HEXTE data in the energy band of 2 - 100 keV. We present results of detailed analysis of these sources during the rising phase of their outburst, whenever simultaneous or near-simultaneous X-ray and Radio observations are `available'. We find that before the peak radio flare (transient jet) a few of the sources (in addition to those reported earlier) exhibit `local' softening within the soft intermediate state itself. Except …
X-ray and Radio Monitoring of the Neutron Star Low Mass X-ray Binary 1A 1744-361: Quasi Periodic Oscillations, Transient Ejections, and a Disk Atmosphere
通过对中子星低质量X射线双星1A 1744-361为期三个月的X射线与射电监测，首次发现约8 Hz准周期振荡，证实其在爆发峰值呈现Z态特征，并观测到 atoll 态下 island 到 banana 态转变时的瞬态喷流抛射及吸积盘大气吸收线。
We present the radio and X-ray monitoring campaign of the 2019/2020 outburst of MAXI J1348-630, a new black hole X-ray binary (XRB) discovered in 2019 January. We observed MAXI J1348-630 for $\sim$14 months in the radio band with MeerKAT and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), and in the X-rays with MAXI and Swift/XRT. Throughout the outburst we detected and tracked the evolution of the compact and transient jets. Following the main outburst, the system underwent at least 4 hard-state-only re-flares, during which compact jets were again detected. For the major outburst, we observed t…
We explore the ramification of associating the energetics of extreme mag- netic reconnection events with transient mass loss in a stellar analogy with solar eruptive events. We establish energy partitions relative to the total bolometric radiated flare energy for different observed components of stellar flares, and show that there is rough agreement for these values with solar flares. We apply an equipartition between the bolometric radiated flare energy and kinetic energy in an accompanying mass ejection, seen in solar eruptive events and expected from reconnection. This allows an integrated …
ASASSN-16oh is a peculiar transient supersoft X-ray source without a mass-ejection signature in the field of the Small Magellanic Cloud. Maccarone et al. (2019) concluded that ASASSN-16oh is the first dwarf nova with supersoft X-ray that originated from an equatorial accretion belt on a white dwarf (WD). Hillman et al. (2019) proposed a thermonuclear runaway model that both the X-rays and $V$/$I$ photons are emitted from the hot WD. We calculated the same parameter models as Hillman et al.'s and found that they manipulated on/off the mass-accretion, and their best fit $V$ light curves are 6 ma…
Curtin University（科廷大学）；INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera（意大利国家天体物理研究所，布雷拉天文台）；Shangqiu Normal University（商丘师范学院）；INAF, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica（意大利国家天体物理研究所，空间天体物理学与宇宙学研究所）；INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma（意大利国家天体物理研究所，罗马天文台）；University of Oxford（牛津大学）；ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy（荷兰射电天文研究所）；Radboud University（拉德堡德大学）；University of Southampton（南安普顿大学）
Black holes in binary systems execute patterns of outburst activity where two characteristic X-ray states are associated with different behaviours observed at radio wavelengths. The hard state is associated with radio emission indicative of a continuously replenished, collimated, relativistic jet, whereas the soft state is rarely associated with radio emission, and never continuously, implying the absence of a quasi-steady jet. Here we report radio observations of the black hole transient MAXI J1820$+$070 during its 2018 outburst. As the black hole transitioned from the hard to soft state we o…
We consider black hole formation in failed supernovae when a dense circumstellar medium (CSM) is present around the massive star progenitor. By utilizing radiation hydrodynamical simulations, we calculate the mass ejection of blue supergiants and Wolf-Rayet stars in the collapsing phase and the radiative shock occurring between the ejecta and the ambient CSM. We find that the resultant emission is redder and dimmer than normal supernovae (bolometric luminosity of $\sim 10^{40}-10^{41}\ {\rm erg\ s^{-1}}$, effective temperature of $\sim 5\times 10^3$ K, and timescale of 10-100 days) and shows a…
The black hole candidate, XTE J1752-223, was discovered in 2009 October when it entered an outburst. We obtained radio data from the Australia Telescope Compact Array for the duration of the ~9 month event. The lightcurves show that the radio emission from the compact jet persisted for the duration of an extended hard state and through the transition to the intermediate state. The flux then rose rapidly by a factor of 10 and the radio source entered a series of at least 7 maxima, the first of which was likely to be emission associated with the compact jet. The subsequent 6 flares were accompan…
We present time resolved X-ray spectroscopy of the microquasar GRS1915+105 with the MAXI observatory in order to study the accretion state just before and during the ejections associated with its major flares. Radio monitoring with the RATAN-600 radio telescope from 4.8 - 11.2 GHz has revealed two large steep spectrum major flares in the first eight months of 2013. Since, the RATAN receives one measurement per day, we cannot determine the jet forming time without more information. Fortunately, this is possible since a distinct X-ray light curve signature that occurs preceding and during major …
Sixteen years of observations of black hole transients with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, complemented by other X-ray observatories and ground-based optical/infrared/radio telescopes have given us a clear view of the complex phenomenology associated with their bright outbursts. This has led to the definition of a small number of spectral/timing states which are separated by marked transitions in observables. The association of these states and their transitions to changes in the radio emission from relativistic radio jets completes the picture and have led to the study of the connection bet…
We present the newly developed broadband transient monitor using the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) and the MAXI Gas Slit Camera (GSC) data. Our broadband transient monitor monitors high energy transient sources from 2 keV to 200 keV in seven energy bands by combining the BAT (15-200 keV) and the GSC (2-20 keV) data. Currently, the daily and the 90-minute (one orbit) averaged light curves are available for 106 high energy transient sources. Our broadband transient monitor is available to the public through our web server, http://yoshidalab.mydns.jp/bat_gsc_trans_mon/, for a wider use by the…
Why most neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries accrete transiently: an evolutionary study of transient and persistent phases
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal（印度科学教育研究所博帕尔分校）；Tata Institute of Fundamental Research（塔塔基础研究所）；Center for Theoretical Physics（理论物理中心）
Classic massive binary evolutionary scenarios predict that a transitional common-envelope (CE) phase could be preceded as well as succeeded by the evolutionary stage when a binary consists of a compact object and a massive star, that is, a high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB). The observational manifestations of common envelope are poorly constrained. We speculate that its ejection might be observed in some cases as a transient event at mid-infrared (IR) wavelengths. We estimate the expected numbers of CE ejection events and HMXBs per star formation unit rate, and compare these theoretical estimates …
We report on the optical detection of the black hole X-ray transient MAXI J1659-152 during its quiescent state. By using the Canada France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), we observed MAXI J1659-152 about 7 months after the end of an X-ray outburst. The optical counterpart of MAXI J1659-152 is clearly detected with a r'-band magnitude of 23.6-23.8. The detection confirms that the optical emission of MAXI J1659-152 during quiescence is relatively bright comparing to other black hole X-ray transients. This implies that the distance to MAXI J1659-152 is 4.6-7.5 kpc for a M2 dwarf companion star, or 2.3-3…
The recently discovered Galactic X-ray transient XTE J1752-223 entered its first known outburst in 2010, emitting from the X-ray to the radio regimes. Its general X-ray properties were consistent with those of a black hole candidate in various spectral states, when ejection of jet components is expected. To verify this, we carried out very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations. The measurements were carried out with the European VLBI Network (EVN) and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at four epochs in 2010 February. The images at the first three epochs show a moving jet component…
We describe the results of the first year of a program to localize new Galactic Transient sources discovered by MAXI with NASA's Swift mission. Swift is ideally suited for follow-up of MAXI discovered transients as its X-ray Telescope (XRT) field of view (~0.2 degrees radius) is closely matched to the typical MAXI error circle. The XRT is capable of localizing new sources to an accuracy of up to 1.5 arc-seconds radius (90% confidence), and the Swift Optical/UV Telescope also provides optical imaging of any optical counterpart of the X-ray source. If no optical counterpart is found with Swift (…
During a 2018 outburst, the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070 was comprehensively monitored at multiple wavelengths as it underwent a hard to soft state transition. During this transition a rapid evolution in X-ray timing properties and a short-lived radio flare were observed, both of which were linked to the launching of bi-polar, long-lived relativistic ejecta. We provide detailed analysis of two Very Long Baseline Array observations, using both time binning and a new dynamic phase centre tracking technique to mitigate the effects of smearing when observing fast-moving ejecta at high an…
The stellar magnetic field completely dominates the environment around late-type stars. It is responsible for driving the coronal high-energy radiation (e.g. EUV/X-rays), the development of stellar winds, and the generation transient events such as flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). While progress has been made for the first two processes, our understanding of the eruptive behavior in late-type stars is still very limited. One example of this is the fact that despite the frequent and highly energetic flaring observed in active stars, direct evidence for stellar CMEs is almost non-existe…
The AGILE satellite detected transient high-energy gamma-ray emission from the X-ray binary V404 Cygni, during the June 2015 outburst observed in radio, optical, X-ray and soft gamma-ray frequencies. The activity was observed by AGILE in the 50-400 MeV energy band, between 2015-06-24 UT 06:00:00 and 2015-06-26 UT 06:00:00 (MJD 57197.25 - 57199.25), with a detection significance of ${\sim}4.3σ$. The gamma-ray detection, consistent with a contemporaneous observation by Fermi-LAT, is correlated with a bright flare observed at radio and hard X-ray frequencies, and with a strong enhancement of the …
In this paper we report on the observations performed with INTEGRAL and Swift of the first outburst detected from the hard X-ray transient MAXI J1828-249. During the first about two days of the outburst, the source was observed by MAXI to undergo a very rapid transition from a hard to a softer spectral state. While the hard state was not efficiently monitored because the transition occurred so rapidly, the evolution of the source outburst in the softer state was covered quasi-simultaneously in a broad energy range (0.6-150 keV) by the instruments on-board INTEGRAL and Swift. During these obser…
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation high-energy gamma-ray observatory. It will improve the sensitivity of current instruments up to an order of magnitude, while providing energy coverage for photons from 20 GeV to at least 300 TeV to reach high redshifts and extreme accelerators and will give access to the shortest time-scale phenomena. CTA is thus a uniquely powerful instrument for the exploration of the violent and variable universe. The ability to probe short timescales at the highest energies will allow CTA to explore the connection between accretion and ejection phe…
The close neighbourhood of a supermassive black hole contains not only the accreting gas and dust but also stellar-sized objects, such as late-type and early-type stars and compact remnants that belong to the nuclear star cluster. When passing through the accretion flow, these objects perturb it by the direct action of stellar winds, as well as their magnetic and gravitational effects. By performing General-Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) simulations, we investigate how the passages of a star can influence the supermassive black hole gaseous environment. We focus on the changes in the…
We report the discovery of a giant dust scattering ring around the Black Hole transient MAXI J1348-630 with SRG/eROSITA during its first X-ray all-sky survey. During the discovery observation in February 2020 the ring had an outer diameter of 1.3 deg, growing to 1.6 deg by the time of the second all sky survey scan in August 2020. This makes the new dust ring the by far largest X-ray scattering ring observed so far. Dust scattering halos, in particular the rings found around transient sources, offer the possibility of precise distance measurements towards the original X-ray sources. We combine…
We present the results of our quasi-simultaneous radio, sub-mm, infrared, optical and X-ray study of the Galactic black hole candidate X-ray binary MAXI J1836-194 during its 2011 outburst. We consider the full multi-wavelength spectral evolution of the outburst, investigating whether the evolution of the jet spectral break (the transition between optically-thick and optically-thin synchrotron emission) is caused by any specific properties of the accretion flow. Our observations show that the break does not scale with the X-ray luminosity or with the inner radius of the accretion disk, and is i…
We study the global accretion-ejection solutions around a rotating black hole considering three widely accepted pseudo-Kerr potentials that satisfactorily mimic the space-time geometry of rotating black holes. We find that all the pseudo potentials provide standing shock solutions for large range of flow parameters. We identify the effective region of the shock parameter space spanned by energy ($\mathcal{E}_{\text{in}}$) and angular momentum ($λ_{\text{in}}$) measured at the inner critical point ($x_{\text{in}}$) and find that the possibility of shock formation becomes feeble when the viscosi…
We studied the outburst evolution and timing properties of the recently discovered X-ray transient MAXI J1348-630 as observed with NICER. We produced the fundamental diagrams commonly used to trace the spectral evolution, and power density spectra to study the fast X-ray variability. The main outburst evolution of MAXI J1348-630 is similar to that commonly observed in black hole transients. The source evolved from the hard state, through hard- and soft-intermediate states, into the soft state in the outburst rise, and back to the hard state in reverse during the outburst decay. At the end of t…
Using wavelet analysis and power density spectrum, we investigate two transient quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) observed in MAXI J1535$-$571 observed with Insight-HXMT. The transient QPOs have a centroid frequency of $\sim 10$ Hz with a FWHM $\sim 0.6$ Hz and an rms amplitude $\sim 14\%$. Energy spectra of QPO and non-QPO regimes are also separated and analyzed, and the spectra become softer with higher $E_{cut}$ in the non-QPO regime compared to the QPO regime. Our results suggest that the transient QPOs detected in MJD 58016 and 58017 are still the type-C QPO, and the source remains in it…
Integrating trajectories of low-mass X-ray binaries containing black holes within the Galactic potential, Repetto, Davies & Sigurdsson recently showed that the large distances of some systems above the Galactic plane can only be explained if black holes receive appreciable natal kicks. Surprisingly, they found that the distribution of black hole kick velocities (rather than that of the momenta) should be similar to that of neutron stars. Here I argue that this result can be understood if neutron star and black hole kicks are a consequence of large-scale asymmetries created in the supernova eje…
Super-Chandrasekhar remnants of double white dwarf mergers could sometimes collapse into a rapidly rotating neutron star (NS), accompanying with a mass ejection of a few times $0.01M_{\odot}$. Bright optical transient emission can be produced by the ejecta due to heating by radioactivities and particularly by energy injection from the NS. Since the merger remnants before collapse resemble a star evolving from the asymptotic giant branch phase to the planetary nebula phase, an intense dusty wind is considered to be driven about several thousand years ago before the collapse and surround the rem…
We report results of a high-resolution numerical-relativity simulation for the merger of black hole-magnetized neutron star binaries on Japanese supercomputer "K". We focus on a binary that is subject to tidal disruption and subsequent formation of a massive accretion torus. We find the launch of thermally driven torus wind, subsequent formation of a funnel wall above the torus and a magnetosphere with collimated poloidal magnetic field, and high Blandford-Znajek luminosity. We show for the first time this picture in a self-consistent simulation. The turbulence-like motion induced by the non-a…
Magnetic reconnection can power bright, rapid flares originating from the inner magnetosphere of accreting black holes. We conduct extremely high resolution ($5376\times2304\times2304$ cells) general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics simulations, capturing plasmoid-mediated reconnection in a 3D magnetically arrested disk for the first time. We show that an equatorial, plasmoid-unstable current sheet forms in a transient, non-axisymmetric, low-density magnetosphere within the inner few Schwarzschild radii. Magnetic flux bundles escape from the event horizon through reconnection at the universal…
LS I +61303 is a gamma-ray binary with periodic radio outbursts coincident with the orbital period of P=26.5 d. The origin of the radio emission is unclear,it could be due either to a jet, as in microquasars, or to the shock boundary between the Be star and a possible pulsar wind. We here analyze the radio spectral index over 6.7 yr from Green Bank Interferometer data at 2.2 GHz and 8.3 GHz. We find two new characteristics in the radio emission. The first characteristic is that the periodic outbursts indeed consist of two consecutive outbursts; the first outburst is optically thick, whereas th…
Wide-Field MAXI (WF-MAXI: Wide-Field Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image) is a proposed mission to detect and localize X-ray transients including electro-magnetic counterparts of gravitational-wave events such as gamma-ray bursts and supernovae etc., which are expected to be directly detected for the first time in late 2010's by the next generation gravitational telescopes such as Advanced LIGO and KAGRA. The most distinguishing characteristics of WF-MAXI are a wide energy range from 0.7 keV to 1 MeV and a large field of view (~25 % of the entire sky), which are realized by two main instruments: (i…
