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Register a new userSub-mm Jet Properties of the X-Ray Binary Swift J1745$-$26
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Alexandra Tetarenko
Publication date
2015
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Authors
A.J. Tetarenko
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We present the results of our observations of the early stages of the 2012--2013 outburst of the transient black hole X-ray binary (BHXRB), Swift J1745$-$26, with the VLA, SMA, and JCMT (SCUBA--2). Our data mark the first multiple-band mm & sub-mm observations of a BHXRB. During our observations the system was in the hard accretion state producing a steady, compact jet. The unique combination of radio and mm/sub-mm data allows us to directly measure the spectral indices in and between the radio and mm/sub-mm regimes, including the first mm/sub-mm spectral index measured for a BHXRB. Spectral fitting revealed that both the mm (230 GHz) and sub-mm (350 GHz) measurements are consistent with extrapolations of an inverted power-law from contemporaneous radio data (1--30 GHz). This indicates that, as standard jet models predict, a power-law extending up to mm/sub-mm frequencies can adequately describe the spectrum, and suggests that the mechanism driving spectral inversion could be responsible for the high mm/sub-mm fluxes (compared to radio fluxes) observed in outbursting BHXRBs. While this power-law is also consistent with contemporaneous optical data, the optical data could arise from either jet emission with a jet spectral break frequency of $ u_{{rm break}}gtrsim1times10^{14},{rm Hz}$ or the combination of jet emission with a lower jet spectral break frequency of $ u_{{rm break}}gtrsim2times10^{11},{rm Hz}$ and accretion disc emission. Our analysis solidifies the importance of the mm/sub-mm regime in bridging the crucial gap between radio and IR frequencies in the jet spectrum, and justifies the need to explore this regime further.
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Swift J1745-26 is an X-ray binary towards the Galactic Centre that was detected when it went into outburst in September 2012. This source is thought to be one of a growing number of sources that display failed outbursts, in which the self-absorbed radio jets of the transient source are never fully quenched and the thermal emission from the geometrically-thin inner accretion disk never fully dominates the X-ray flux. We present multifrequency data from the Very Large Array, Australia Telescope Compact Array and Karoo Array Telescope (KAT- 7) radio arrays, spanning the entire period of the outburst. Our rich data set exposes radio emission that displays a high level of large scale variability compared to the X-ray emission and deviations from the standard radio--X-ray correlation that are indicative of an unstable jet and confirm the outbursts transition from the canonical hard state to an intermediate state. We also observe steepening of the spectral index and an increase of the linear polarization to a large fraction (~50%) of the total flux, as well as a rotation of the electric vector position angle. These are consistent with a transformation from a self-absorbed compact jet to optically-thin ejecta -- the first time such a discrete ejection has been observed in a failed outburst -- and may imply a complex magnetic field geometry.
We study the X-ray transient Swift J1745-26, using observations obtained from its outburst in September 2012, up to its decay towards quiescence in March 2013. We obtained optical and infrared observations, through override programme at ESO/VLT with FORS2 and ISAAC instruments, and archival optical (VLT/VIRCAM), radio and X-ray (Swift) observations, to build the lightcurve and the broad-band Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) of Swift J1745-26. We show that, during its outburst and also during its decay towards quiescence, Swift J1745-26 SED can be adjusted, from infrared up to X-rays, by the sum of both a viscous irradiated multi-colour blackbody emitted by an accretion disk, and a synchrotron powerlaw at high energy. In the radio domain, the SED arises from synchrotron emission from the jet. While our SED fitting confirms that the source remained in the low/hard state during its outburst, we determine an X-ray spectral break at frequency 3.1 < nu_break < 3.4 x 10^14 Hz, and a radio spectral break at 10^12 Hz < nu_break < 10^13 Hz. We also show that the system is compatible with an absorption Av of ~7.69 magnitudes, lies within a distance interval of D~[2.6-4.8] kpc, with an upper limit of orbital period P_orb = 11.3 hours, and that the companion star is a late-type star of spectral type in the range K0 - M0 V, confirming that the system is a low-mass X-ray binary. We finally plot the position of Swift J1745-26 on an optical-infrared - X-ray luminosity diagram: its localization on this diagram is consistent with the source staying in the low-hard state during outburst and decay phases.
We characterized the broad-band X-ray spectra of Swift J1745-26 during the decay of the 2013 outburst using INTEGRAL ISGRI, JEM-X and Swift XRT. The X-ray evolution is compared to the evolution in optical and radio. We fit the X- ray spectra with phenomenological and Comptonization models. We discuss possible scenarios for the physical origin of a ~50 day flare observed both in optical and X- rays ~170 days after the peak of the outburst. We conclude that it is a result of enhanced mass accretion in response to an earlier heating event. We characterized the evolution in the hard X-ray band and showed that for the joint ISGRI-XRT fits, the e-folding energy decreased from 350 keV to 130 keV, while the energy where the exponential cut-off starts increased from 75 keV to 112 keV as the decay progressed.We investigated the claim that high energy cut-offs disappear with the compact jet turning on during outburst decays, and showed that spectra taken with HEXTE on RXTE provide insufficient quality to characterize cut-offs during the decay for typical hard X-ray fluxes. Long INTEGRAL monitoring observations are required to understand the relation between the compact jet formation and hard X-ray behavior. We found that for the entire decay (including the flare), the X-ray spectra are consistent with thermal Comptonization, but a jet synchrotron origin cannot be ruled out.
We present the results of simultaneous X-ray and radio observations of the peculiar Z-type neutron star X-ray binary Cir X-1, observed with the Rossi X-ray timing explorer satellite and the Australia Telescope Compact Array in 2000 October and 2002 December. We identify typical Z source behaviour in the power density spectra as well as characteristic Z patterns drawn in an X-ray hardness-intensity diagram. Power spectra typical of bright atoll sources have also been identified at orbital phases after the periastron passage, while orbital phases before the periastron passage are characterized by power spectra that are typical neither of Z nor of atoll sources. We investigate the coupling between the X-ray and the radio properties, focusing on three orbital phases when an enhancement of the radio flux density has been detected, to test the link between the inflow (X-ray) and the outflow (radio jet) to/from the compact object. In two out of three cases we associate the presence of the radio jet to a spectral transition in the X-rays, although the transition does not precede the radio flare, as detected in other Z sources. An analogous behaviour has recently been found in the black hole candidate GX 339-4. In the third case, the radio light curve shows a similar shape to the X-ray light curve. We discuss our results in the context of jet models, considering also black hole candidates.
We have analyzed 3 observations of the High Mass X-ray Binary A0535+26 performed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) 3, 5, and 6 months after the last outburst in 2011 February. We detect pulsations only in the second observation. The 3-20 keV spectra can be fit equally well with either an absorbed power law or absorbed thermal bremsstrahlung model. Re-analysis of 2 earlier RXTE observations made 4 years after the 1994 outburst, original BeppoSAX observations 2 years later, re-analysis of 4 EXOSAT observations made 2 years after the last 1984 outburst, and a recent XMM-Newton observation in 2012 reveal a stacked, quiescent flux level decreasing from ~2 to <1 x 10^{-11} ergs/cm2/s over 6.5 years after outburst. Detection of pulsations during half of the quiescent observations would imply that accretion onto the magnetic poles of the neutron star continues despite the fact that the circumstellar disk may no longer be present. The accretion could come from material built-up at the corotation radius or from an isotropic stellar wind.
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