184 research outputs found
Photoionized HBeta Emission in NGC 5548: It Breathes!
Emission-line regions in active galactic nuclei and other photoionized
nebulae should become larger in size when the ionizing luminosity increases.
This 'breathing' effect is observed for the Hbeta emission in NGC 5548 by using
Hbeta and optical continuum lightcurves from the 13-year 1989-2001 AGN Watch
monitoring campaign. To model the breathing, we use two methods to fit the
observed lightcurves in detail: (i) parameterized models and, (ii) the MEMECHO
reverberation mapping code. Our models assume that optical continuum variations
track the ionizing radiation, and that the Hbeta variations respond with time
delays due to light travel time. By fitting the data using a delay map that is
allowed to change with continuum flux, we find that the strength of the Hbeta
response decreases and the time delay increases with ionizing luminosity. The
parameterized breathing models allow the time delay and the Hbeta flux to
depend on the continuum flux so that, the time delay is proportional to the
continuum flux to the power beta, and the Hbeta flux is proportional to the
continuum flux to the power alpha. Our fits give 0.1 < beta < 0.46 and 0.57 <
alpha < 0.66. alpha is consistent with previous work by Gilbert and Peterson
(2003) and Goad, Korista and Knigge (2004). Although we find beta to be flatter
than previously determined by Peterson et al. (2002) using cross-correlation
methods, it is closer to the predicted values from recent theoretical work by
Korista and Goad (2004).Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Broad iron lines in neutrons stars: dynamical broadening or wind scattering?
Broad iron emission lines are observed in many accreting systems from black
holes in AGN and X-ray binaries to neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries. The
origin of the line broadening is often interpreted as due to dynamical
broadening and relativistic effects. However, alternative interpretations have
been proposed, included broadening due to Compton scattering in a wind or
accretion disk atmosphere. Here we explore the observational signatures
expected from broadening in a wind, in particular that the iron line width
should increase with an increase in the column density of the absorber (due to
an increase in the number of scatterings). We study the data from three neutron
star low-mass X-ray binaries where both a broad iron emission line and
absorption lines are seen simultaneously, and show that there is no significant
correlation between line width and column density. This favors an inner disk
origin for the line broadening rather than scattering in a wind.Comment: 5 pages, 1 table, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Cooling of the crust in the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary MXB 1659-29
In quasi-persistent neutron star transients, long outbursts cause the neutron
star crust to be heated out of thermal equilibrium with the rest of the star.
During quiescence, the crust then cools back down. Such crustal cooling has
been observed in two quasi-persistent sources: KS 1731-260 and MXB 1659-29.
Here we present an additional Chandra observation of MXB 1659-29 in quiescence,
which extends the baseline of monitoring to 6.6 yr after the end of the
outburst. This new observation strongly suggests that the crust has thermally
relaxed, with the temperature remaining consistent over 1000 days. Fitting the
temperature cooling curve with an exponential plus constant model we determine
an e-folding timescale of 465 +/- 25 days, with the crust cooling to a constant
surface temperature of kT = 54 +/- 2 eV (assuming D=10 kpc). From this, we
infer a core temperature in the range 3.5E7-8.3E7 K (assuming D=10 kpc), with
the uncertainty due to the surface composition. Importantly, we tested two
neutron star atmosphere models as well as a blackbody model, and found that the
thermal relaxation time of the crust is independent of the chosen model and the
assumed distance.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJL, 4 pages, 1 figure
Photoionized H\u3cem\u3eβ\u3c/em\u3e emission in NGC 5548: it breathes!
Emission-line regions in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and other photoionized nebulae should become larger in size when the ionizing luminosity increases. This `breathing\u27 effect is observed for the Hβ emission in NGC 5548 by using Hβ and optical continuum light curves from the 13-yr (1989-2001) AGN Watch monitoring campaign. To model the breathing, we use two methods to fit the observed light curves in detail: (i) parametrized models and, (ii) the MEMECHO reverberation-mapping code. Our models assume that optical continuum variations track the ionizing radiation, and that the Hβ variations respond with time-delays τ due to light travel-time. By fitting the data using a delay-map Ψ(τ, Fc) that is allowed to change with continuum flux Fc, we find that the strength of the Hβ response decreases and the time-delay increases with ionizing luminosity. The parametrized breathing models allow the time-delay and the Hβ flux to depend on the continuum flux so that, τ~Fβc and FHβ~Fαc. Our fits give 0.1 \u3c β \u3c 0.46 and 0.57 \u3c α \u3c 0.66. α is consistent with previous work by Gilbert and Peterson, and Goad, Korista and Knigge. Although we find β to be flatter than previously determined by Peterson et al. using cross-correlation methods, it is closer to the predicted values from recent theoretical work by Korista and Goad
The Quiescent X-ray Spectrum of Accreting Black Holes
The quiescent state is the dominant accretion mode for black holes on all
mass scales. Our knowledge of the X-ray spectrum is limited due to the
characteristic low luminosity in this state. Herein, we present an analysis of
the sample of dynamically-confirmed stellar-mass black holes observed in
quiescence in the \textit{Chandra/XMM-Newton/Suzaku} era resulting in a sample
of 8 black holes with 570 ks of observations. In contrast to the
majority of AGN where observations are limited by contamination from diffuse
gas, the stellar-mass systems allow for a clean study of the X-ray spectrum
resulting from the accretion flow alone. The data are characterized using
simple models. We find a model consisting of a power-law or thermal
bremsstrahlung to both provide excellent descriptions of the data, where we
measure and
respectively in the 0.3 -- 10 keV bandpass, at a median luminosity of . This result in discussed in the context of our
understanding of the accretion flow onto stellar and supermassive black holes
at low luminosities.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, MNRAS accepte
\u3cem\u3eXMM-Newton\u3c/em\u3e discovery of the X-ray transient XMMU J181227.8-181234 in the Galactic plane
We report the discovery of an X-ray transient, observed in outburst with XMM-Newton on 2003 March 20, and with position (J2000, approximate positional error 2arcsec). No known source is present at this position and the source was not detected during published ROSAT or ASCA observations of that region. However, the source may be associated with 1H1812-182 detected by HEAO 1, although the error bars on the HEAO 1 position are very large and the two sources could also be unrelated. Therefore, we name the source XMMU J181227.8-181234. Initially, the source was not detected using the All-Sky Monitor (ASM) on-board the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, however, reprocessing of the ASM data shows that the source was in fact detected and it was active for about 50d. The X-ray spectrum of this transient is fitted equally well by an absorbed power law (with a spectral index of 2.5) or multicolour disc blackbody model (with kT ~ 2keV), where we find that the source is highly absorbed. We detect an unabsorbed 0.5-10keV flux in the range (2-5) × 10-9ergcm-2s-1, which at a distance of 8kpc corresponds to a 0.5-10keV luminosity of (1-4) × 1037ergs-1. No pulsations were detected by timing analysis. A colour-colour diagram from ASM data of different accreting objects suggests that the transient is a high-mass X-ray binary, as is also suggested by the high absorption compared to the average interstellar value in the direction of the source. However, the power-law spectral index is far more typical of a low-mass X-ray binary. Thus, we are unable to conclusively identify the nature of the transient. We also report on three sources first detected by the ASCA Galactic Plane Survey that are close to this transient
A comparison of broad iron emission lines in archival data of neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries
Relativistic X-ray disk-lines have been found in multiple neutron star
low-mass X-ray binaries, in close analogy with black holes across the
mass-scale. These lines have tremendous diagnostic power and have been used to
constrain stellar radii and magnetic fields, often finding values that are
consistent with independent timing techniques. Here, we compare CCD-based data
from Suzaku with Fe K line profiles from archival data taken with gas-based
spectrometers. In general, we find good consistency between the gas-based line
profiles from EXOSAT, BeppoSAX and RXTE and the CCD data from Suzaku,
demonstrating that the broad profiles seen are intrinsic to the line and not
broad due to instrumental issues. However, we do find that when fitting with a
Gaussian line profile, the width of the Gaussian can depend on the continuum
model in instruments with low spectral resolution, though when the different
models fit equally well the line widths generally agree. We also demonstrate
that three BeppoSAX observations show evidence for asymmetric lines, with a
relativistic disk-line model providing a significantly better fit than a
Gaussian. We test this by using the posterior predictive p-value method, and
bootstrapping of the spectra to show that such deviations from a Gaussian are
unlikely to be observed by chance.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted to Ap
Quiescent X-ray Emission From Cen X-4: A Variable Thermal Component
The nearby neutron star low-mass X-ray binary, Cen X-4, has been in a quiescent state since its last outburst in 1979. Typically, quiescent emission from these objects consists of thermal emission (presumably from the neutron star surface) with an additional hard power-law tail of unknown nature. Variability has been observed during quiescence in Cen X-4 on both timescales as short as hundreds of seconds and as long as years. However, the nature of this variability is still unknown. Early observations seemed to show it was all due to a variable hard X-ray tail. Here, we present new and archival observations that contradict this. The most recent Suzaku observation of Cen X-4 finds it in a historically low state, a factor of 4.4 fainter than the brightest quiescent observation. As the spectrum during the brightest observation was comprised of approximately 60% from the thermal component and 40% from the power-law component, such a large change cannot be explained by just power-law variability. Spectral fits with a variable thermal component fit the data well, while spectral fits allowing both the column density and the power law to vary do not, leading to the conclusion that the thermal component must be variable. Interestingly, we also find that the thermal fraction remains consistent between all epochs, implying that the thermal and power-law fluxes vary by approximately the same amount. If the emitting area remains unchanged between observations, then the effective surface temperature must change. Alternatively, if the temperature remains constant, then the emitting area must change. The nature of this thermal variability is unclear, but may be explained by variable low-level accretion
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