Results of broadband INTEGRAL and RXTE observations of the Galactic microquasar XTE J1550-564 during outburst in spring 2003 are presented. During the outburst the source was found in a canonical low/hard spectral state.
In 1998 September, the X-ray transient XTE J1550-564 underwent a major outburst in soft and hard X-rays, followed by a radio flare. Australian Long Baseline Array images obtained shortly after the peak in the radio flare showed evolving structure. The components observed have an apparent separation velocity of >2c.
We study hard states of the black-hole binary XTE J1550--564 during its 2000 outburst. In order to explain those states at their highest luminosities, $Lsim 10%$ of the Eddington luminosity, $L_{rm E}$, we propose a specific hot accretion flow model. We point out that the highest values of the hard-state $L$ are substantially above the $L$ an advection-dominated accretion flow (ADAF) can produce, $sim 0.4alpha^2 L_{rm E}$, which is only $sim (3$--$4)%L_{rm E}$ even for $alpha$ as high as 0.3. On the other hand, we successfully explain the hard states with $Lsim (4$--$10)%$ using the luminous hot accretion flow (LHAF) model. As $10%L_{rm E}$ is also roughly the highest luminosity an LHAF can produce, such an agreement between the predicted and observed highest luminosities provides by itself strong support for this model. Then, we study multi-waveband spectral variability during the 2000 outburst. In addition to the primary maxima in the optical light curves, secondary maxima were detected after the transition from the very high state to the hard state. We show that the secondary maxima are well modeled by synchrotron emission from a jet formed during the state transition. We argue that the absence of the corresponding secondary peak in the X-ray light curve indicates that the X-ray jet emission, regardless of its radiative process, synchrotron or its Comptonization, is not important in the hard state compared to the emission from the accretion flow.
We report the identification of the optical counterpart of the X-ray transient XTE J1550-564 described in two companion papers by Sobczak et al (1999) and Remillard et al (1999). We find that the optical source brightened by approximately 4 magnitudes over the quiescent counterpart seen at B~22 on a SERC survey plate, and then decayed by approximately 1.5 magnitudes over the 7 week long observation period. There was an optical response to the large X-ray flare described by Sobczak et al (1999), but it was much smaller and delayed by roughly 1 day.
The bright X-ray transient H 1743-322 was observed daily by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) during most of its 8-month outburst in 2003. We present a detailed spectral analysis and a supporting timing analysis of all of these data, and we discuss the behavior and evolution of the source in terms of the three principal X-ray states defined by Remillard and McClintock. These X-ray results are complemented by Very Large Array (VLA) data obtained at six frequencies that provide quite complete coverage of the entire outburst cycle at 4.860 GHz and 8.460 GHz. We also present photometric data and finding charts for the optical counterpart in both outburst and quiescence. We closely compare H 1743-322 to the well-studied black-hole X-ray transient XTE J1550-564 and find the behaviors of these systems to be very similar. As reported elsewhere, both H 1743-322 and XTE J1550-564 are relativistic jet sources and both exhibit a pair of high-frequency QPO oscillations with a 3:2 frequency ratio. The many striking similarities between these two sources argue strongly that H 1743-322 is a black hole binary, although presently no dynamical data exist to support this conclusion.
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 1.9c; when relativistic effects are taken into account, the inferred true velocity is >0.8c. The flux densities appear to peak simultaneously during the outburst, with a rather flat (although still optically thin) spectral index of -0.2.