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Register a new userLong term variability of Cygnus X-1: VII. Orbital variability of the focussed wind in Cyg X-1 / HDE 226868 system
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Binary systems with an accreting compact object are a unique chance to investigate the strong, clumpy, line-driven winds of early type supergiants by using the compact objects X-rays to probe the wind structure. We analyze the two-component wind of HDE 226868, the O9.7Iab giant companion of the black hole Cyg X-1 using 4.77 Ms of RXTE observations of the system taken over the course of 16 years. Absorption changes strongly over the 5.6 d binary orbit, but also shows a large scatter at a given orbital phase, especially at superior conjunction. The orbital variability is most prominent when the black hole is in the hard X-ray state. Our data are poorer for the intermediate and soft state, but show signs for orbital variability of the absorption column in the intermediate state. We quantitatively compare the data in the hard state to a toy model of a focussed Castor-Abbott-Klein-wind: as it does not incorporate clumping, the model does not describe the observations well. A qualitative comparison to a simplified simulation of clumpy winds with spherical clumps shows good agreement in the distribution of the equivalent hydrogen column density for models with a porosity length on the order of the stellar radius at inferior conjunction; we conjecture that the deviations between data and model at superior conjunction could be either due to lack of a focussed wind component in the model or a more complicated clump structure.
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We present the results of the spectroscopic observations of HDE 226868, the optical counterpart to the black hole X-ray binary Cyg X-1, from 2001 to 2006. We analyze the variabilities of the two components in the complex H$alpha$ line: one P-Cygni shaped component which follows the motion of the supergiant and another emission component moving with an antiphase orbital motion relative to the supergiant, which is attributed to a focused-stellar wind. The results of KOREL disentangling of our spectra indicate that the focused stellar wind is responsible for the major part of the variability of the H$alpha$ emission line. The emission of the supergiant component had a small difference between the low/hard and high/soft states, while the focused wind component became strong in the low/hard state and weak in the high/soft state. The wind is nearly undisturbed by the X-ray photoionization during the low/hard state. However, during the high/soft state, the X-rays from the compact object could decelerate the line-driven wind and result in a high mass accretion rate, due to the effect of the X-ray photoionization. The X-ray illuminating could also change the temperature profile of the stellar wind and increase its temperature, and thus decrease the H$alpha$ emissivity of the wind, which could explain the H$alpha$ variabilities of Cyg X-1 during different X-ray states.
By using available archival X-ray data, we significantly extended the list of times of X-ray minima. The new list includes 65 data points obtained by critically re-analyzing RXTE ASM data, 88 data points based on observations by MAXI, and two data points based on observations by SUZAKU and AstroSat. Analyzing the data along with times of X-ray minima available from the literature, we provide the most accurate estimate of the rate of period change to date. We do not confirm existence of a second derivative of the orbital period suggested by some authors earlier. Instead, we find that the changes in the period can be fit by a sum of quadratic and sinusoidal functions. The period of sinusoidal variations is 15.8 yr. They can be related either to apsidal motion in the close binary with eccentricity e=0.03 or to a presence of a third body with the mass of about 0.7 solar masses located at a distance about 16 au from the close binary. We also detect irregular and abrupt changes in the residuals between the best fit ephemeris and the data. While we discuss possible reasons for the changes, their origin remains unclear. A tentative period of about 188 days in X-ray flux variations was found. Such a period could be attributed to a small precessing disk around the compact object.
We present a study of the long-term variability of Cyg X-1 using data from the RXTE/ASM and the RXTE/PCA during the time between the two soft states of 1996 and 2001/2002. This period has been characterized by many short ASM flaring episodes which we have identified as failed state transitions. The 150 d period which has been seen before and shortly after the 1996 soft state is not obviously present in the ASM rate during most of this time. Applying selection criteria from our pointed RXTE/PCA observations to exclude the flaring episodes we show that the 150 d period can indeed still be significantly detected in the hard state. Furthermore, while the ~420 d timescale associated with the flaring is reduced in the selected hard state count rate, it is still pronounced in the temporal evolution of the corresponding hardness ratios. The Ryle radio flux is also consistent with the 150 d period being present but distorted during this time.
Long time scale radio-X-ray correlations in black holes during the hard state have been found in many sources and there seems to emerge a universal underlying relationship which quantitatively describes this behavior. Although it would appear only natural to detect short term emission patterns in the X-ray and - with a certain time lag - in the radio, there has been little evidence for this up to now. The most prominent source for radio-X-ray correlations on short time scales (minutes) so far remains GRS 1915+105 where a single mass ejection could be detected successively in the X-ray, IR, and radio wavebands. We analyze a database of more than 4 years of simultaneous radio-X-ray data for Cygnus X-1 from the Ryle Telescope and RXTE PCA/HEXTE. We confirm the existence of a radio-X-ray correlation on long time scales, especially at hard energies. We show that apparent correlations on short time scales in the lightcurves of Cygnus X-1 are most likely the coincidental outcome of white noise statistics. Interpreting this result as a breakdown of radio-X-ray correlations on shorter time scales, this sets a limit to the speed of the jet.
We study the long term evolution of the relationship between the root mean square (rms) variability and flux (the ``rms-flux relation) for the black hole Cygnus X-1 as monitored from 1996 to 2003 with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). We confirm earlier results by Uttley & McHardy (2001) of a linear relationship between rms and flux in the hard state on time scales > 5 s reflecting in its slope the fractional rms variability. We demonstrate the perpetuation of the linear rms-flux relation in the soft and the intermediate state. The existence of a non-zero intercept in the linear rms-flux relation argues for two lightcurve components, for example, one variable and one non-variable component, or a possible constant rms component. The relationship between these two hypothesized components can be described by a fundamental dependence of slope and intercept at time scales ~< 10 ksec with long term averages of the flux.
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