The phase lags of high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in four black-hole candidates

We measured the phase-lag spectrum of the high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPO) in the black hole systems (at QPO frequencies) GRS 1915+105 (35 Hz and 67 Hz), GRO J1655-40 (300 Hz and 450 Hz), XTE J1550-564 (180 Hz and 280 Hz), and IGR J17091-3624 (67 Hz). The lag spectra of the 67-Hz QPO in, respectively, GRS 1915+105 and IGR J17091-3624, and the 450-Hz QPO in GRO J1655-40 are hard (hard photons lag the soft ones) and consistent with each other, with the hard lags increasing with energy. On the contrary, the lags of the 35-Hz QPO in GRS 1915+105 are soft, with the lags becoming softer as the energy increases; the lag spectrum of the 35-Hz QPO is inconsistent with that of the 67-Hz QPO. The lags of the 300-Hz QPO in GRO J1655-40, and the 180-Hz and the 280-Hz QPO in XTE J1550-564 are independent of energy, consistent with each other and with being zero or slightly positive (hard lags). For GRO J1655-40 the lag spectrum of the 300-Hz QPO differs significantly from that of the 450-Hz QPOs. The similarity of the lag spectra of the 180-Hz and 280-Hz QPO in XTE J1550-564 suggests that these two are the same QPO seen at a different frequency in different observations. The lag spectrum of the 67-Hz QPO in GRS 1915+105 is significantly different from that of the $2.7 times 10^{-4}$ Hz QPO in the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy RE J1034+396, which disproves the suggestion that the two QPOs are the same physical phenomenon with their frequencies scaled only by the black-hole mass. The lag spectrum of the QPO in RE J1034+396 is similar to that of the 35-Hz QPO in GRS 1915+105, although identifying these two QPOs as being the same physical feature remains problematic. We compare our results with those for the lags of the kilohertz QPOs in neutron-star systems and the broadband noise component in active galactic nuclei, and discuss possible scenarios for producing the lags in these systems.

Discovery of a 34 Hz Quasi-Periodic Oscillation in the X-ray emission of GRS 1915+105

We report the discovery in the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer data of GRS 1915+105 of a second quasi-periodic oscillation at 34 Hz, simultaneous with that observed at 68 Hz in the same observation. The data corresponded to those observations from 2003 where the 68-Hz oscillation was very strong. The significance of the detection is 4.2 sigma. These observations correspond to a very specific position in the colour-colour diagram for GRS 1915+105, corresponding to a harder spectrum compared to those where a 41 Hz oscillation was discovered. We discuss the possible implications of the new pair of frequencies comparing them with the existing theoretical models.

High-Frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillations from GRS 1915+105

We report the results of a systematic timing analysis of all archival Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) observations of the bright black-hole binary GRS 1915+105 in order to detect high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (HFQPO). We produced power-density spectra in two energy bands and limited the analysis to the frequency range 30-1000 Hz. We found 51 peaks with a single trial significance larger than 3 sigma. As all but three have centroid frequencies that are distributed between 63 and 71 Hz, we consider most of them significant regardless of the number of trials involved. The average centroid frequency and FWHM are 67.3 +/- 2.0 Hz and 4.4 +/- 2.4 Hz respectively. Their fractional rms varies between 0.4% and 2% (total band detections) and between 0.5% and 3% (hard ban detections). As GRS 1915+105 shows large variability on time scales longer than 1s, we analysed the data in 16s intervals and found that the detections are limited to a specific region in the colour-colour diagram, corresponding to state B of the source, when the energy spectrum is dominated by a bright accretion disk component. However, the rms spectrum of the HFQPO is very hard and does not show a flattening up to 40 keV, where the fractional rms reaches 11%. We discuss our findings in terms of current proposed models and compare them with the results on other black-hole binaries and neutron-star binaries.

Low Frequency (11 mHz) Oscillations in H1743-322: A New Class of Black Hole QPOs?

We report the discovery of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPO) at ~11 mHz in two RXTE observations and one Chandra observation of the black hole candidate H1743-322. The QPO is observed only at the beginning of the 2010 and 2011 outbursts at similar hard colour and intensity, suggestive of an accretion state dependence for the QPO. Although its frequency appears to be correlated with X-ray intensity on timescales of a day, in successive outbursts eight months apart we measure a QPO frequency that differs by less than ~2.2 mHz while the intensity had changed significantly. We show that this ~11 mHz QPO is different from the so-called Type-C QPOs seen in black holes and that the mechanisms that produce the two flavours of variability are most probably independent. After comparing this QPO with other variability phenomena seen in accreting black holes and neutron stars, we conclude that it best resembles the so-called 1 Hz QPOs seen in dipping neutron star systems, although having a significantly lower (1-2 orders of magnitude) frequency. If confirmed, H1743-322 is the first black hole showing this type of variability. Given the unusual characteristics and the hard-state dependence of the ~11 mHz QPO, we also speculate whether these oscillations could instead be related to the radio jets observed in H1743-322. A systematic search for this type of low-frequency QPOs in similar systems is needed to test this speculation. In any case, it remains unexplained why these QPOs have only been seen in the last two outbursts of H1743-322.

Discovery of high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in the black-hole candidate IGR J17091-3624

We report the discovery of 8.5 sigma high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (HFQPOs) at 66 Hz in the RXTE data of the black hole candidate IGR J17091-3624, a system whose X-ray properties are very similar to those of microquasar GRS 1915+105. The centroid frequency of the strongest peak is ~66 Hz, its quality factor above 5 and its rms is between 4 and 10%. We found a possible additional peak at 164 Hz when selecting a subset of data; however, at 4.5 sigma level we consider this detection marginal. These QPOs have hard spectrum and are stronger in observations performed between September and October 2011, during which IGR J17091-3624 displayed for the first time light curves which resemble those of the gamma variability class in GRS 1915+105. We find that the 66 Hz QPO is also present in previous observations (4.5 sigma), but only when averaging ~235 ksec of relatively high count rate data. The fact that the HFQPOs frequency in IGR J17091-3624 matches surprisingly well that seen in GRS 1915+105 raises questions on the mass scaling of QPOs frequency in these two systems. We discuss some possible interpretations, however, they all strongly depend on the distance and mass of IGR J17091-3624, both completely unconstrained today.

The long-term evolution of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar Swift J1756.9-2508

We present a timing analysis of the 2009 outburst of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar Swift J1756.9-2508, and a re-analysis of the 2007 outburst. The source shows a short recurrence time of only ~2 years between outbursts. Thanks to the approximately 2 year long baseline of data, we can constrain the magnetic field of the neutron star to be 0.4x10^8 G < B < 9x10^8 G, which is within the range of typical accreting millisecond pulsars. The 2009 timing analysis allows us to put constraints on the accretion torque: the spin frequency derivative within the outburst has an upper limit of $|dot{ u}| < 3x10^-13 Hz/s at the 95% confidence level. A study of pulse profiles and their evolution during the outburst is analyzed, suggesting a systematic change of shape that depends on the outburst phase.

Type I X-ray Bursts from the Neutron-star Transient XTE J1701-462

The neutron-star X-ray transient XTE J1701-462 was observed for $sim$3 Ms with xte during its 2006-2007 outburst. Here we report on the discovery of three type-I X-ray bursts from XTE J1701-462. They occurred as the source was in transition from the typical Z-source behavior to the typical atoll-source behavior, at $sim10%$ of the Eddington luminosity. The first burst was detected in the Z-source flaring branch; the second in the vertex between the flaring and normal branches; and the third in the atoll-source soft state. The detection of the burst in the flaring branch cast doubts on earlier speculations that the flaring branch is due to unstable nuclear burning of accreted matter. The last two of the three bursts show photospheric radius expansion, from which we estimate the distance to the source to be 8.8 kpc with a 15% uncertainty. No significant burst oscillations in the range 30 to 4000 Hz were found during these three bursts.

Phase-coherent timing of the accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1748.9-2021

We present a phase-coherent timing analysis of the intermittent accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1748.9-2021. A new timing solution for the pulsar spin period and the Keplerian binary orbital parameters was achieved by phase connecting all episodes of intermittent pulsations visible during the 2001 outburst. We investigate the pulse profile shapes, their energy dependence and the possible influence of Type I X-ray bursts on the time of arrival and fractional amplitude of the pulsations. We find that the timing solution of SAX J1748.9-2021 shows an erratic behavior when selecting different subsets of data, that is related to substantial timing noise in the timing post-fit residuals. The pulse profiles are very sinusoidal and their fractional amplitude increases linearly with energy and no second harmonic is detected. The reason why this pulsar is intermittent is still unknown but we can rule out a one-to-one correspondence between Type I X-ray bursts and the appearance of the pulsations.

Multiwavelength observations of the black hole candidate Swift J1753.5-0127

We present preliminary results from the analysis of simultaneous multiwavelength observations of the black hole candidate Swift J1753.5-0127. The source is still continuing its outburst started in May 2005, never leaving the Low/Hard State. In the X-ray energy spectra we confirm evidence for a thermal component at a very low luminosity possibly extending close to but not at the innermost stable orbit. This is unusual for black hole candidates in the Low/Hard State. Furthermore, we confirm that its radio emission is significantly fainter than expected from the relation observed in other black hole candidates between the observed radio/X-ray fluxes.