Modelling aperiodic X-ray variabiity in black hole binaries as propagating mass accretion rate fluctuations: A short review

Accretion disks are the structures which mediate the conversion of the kinetic energy of plasma accreting onto a compact object (assumed here to be a black hole) into the observed radiation, in the process of removing the plasma’s angular momentum so that it can accrete onto the black hole. There has been mounting evidence that these structures are accompanied by winds whose extent spans a large number of decades in radius. Most importantly, it was found that in order to satisfy the winds’ observational constraints, their mass flux must increase with the distance from the accreting object; therefore, the mass accretion rate on the disk must decrease with the distance from the gravitating object, with most mass available for accretion expelled before reaching the gravitating object’s vicinity. This reduction in mass flux with radius leads to accretion disk properties that can account naturally for the AGN relative luminosities of their Optical-UV and X-ray components in terms of a single parameter, the dimensionless mass accretion rate. Because this critical parameter is the dimensionless mass accretion rate, it is argued that these models are applicable to accreting black holes across the mass scale, from galactic to extragalactic.

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Testing propagating mass accretion rate fluctuations model PROPFLUC on black hole X-ray binaries

Astronomische Nachrichten ◽

10.1002/asna.201612341 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 337 (4-5) ◽

pp. 524-528

Author(s):

S. Rapisarda ◽

A. Ingram ◽

M. van der Klis

Keyword(s):

Black Hole ◽

Accretion Rate ◽

X Ray ◽

Mass Accretion Rate ◽

X Ray Binaries

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Black Hole Binaries in Quiescence

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921317002083 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 12 (S324) ◽

pp. 35-38

Author(s):

Charles D. Bailyn

Keyword(s):

Black Hole ◽

Binary Systems ◽

Accretion Rate ◽

Quiescent State ◽

X Ray ◽

Black Hole Binaries ◽

Key Factor ◽

Black Hole Binary ◽

Limiting Case ◽

X Ray Binaries

AbstractI discuss some of what is known and unknown about the behavior of black hole binary systems in the quiescent accretion state. Quiescence is important for several reasons: 1) the dominance of the companion star in optical and IR wavelengths allows the binary parameters to be robustly determined — as an example, we argue that the longer proposed distance to the X-ray source GRO J1655-40 is correct; 2) quiescence represents the limiting case of an extremely low accretion rate, in which both accretion and jets can be observed; 3) understanding the evolution and duration of the quiescent state is a key factor in determining the overall demographics of X-ray binaries, which has taken on a new importance in the era of gravitational wave astronomy.

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JET FORMATION IN MICROQUASARS AND ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI: MAGNETIC FIELD LIMITS

International Journal of Modern Physics D ◽

10.1142/s0218271808013595 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 17 (10) ◽

pp. 1931-1937

Author(s):

M. M. KAUFMAN BERNADÓ ◽

M. MASSI

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Black Hole ◽

Field Strength ◽

Magnetic Field Strength ◽

Accretion Rate ◽

Plasma Pressure ◽

X Ray ◽

Mass Accretion Rate ◽

Disk Material ◽

The Magnetic Field

We introduce the use of a well-known parameter, the Alfvén Radius, R A , as a new tool to discern whether an X-ray binary system may undergo a microquasar phase, i.e. ejecting relativistic particles orthogonal to the accretion disk. We study what we call the basic condition, R A /R* = 1 in its dependency on the magnetic field strength and the mass accretion rate. With this basic condition we establish under which combination of parameters any class of accreting neutron stars could become a microquasar instead of confining disk-material down to the magnetic poles and creating the two emitting caps typical for an X-ray pulsar. In the case of black-hole accreting binaries we equate the magnetic field pressure to the plasma pressure in the last stable orbit (i.e. R A /R LSO = 1) and we get upper limits for the magnetic field strength as a function of the mass accretion rate and the black hole mass.

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Probing Supercritical Accretion in Ultraluminous X-ray Source M82 X-1 by means of X-ray Spectral Evolution Analysis

EPJ Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/epjconf/202024007005 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 240 ◽

pp. 07005

Author(s):

Izatul Hafizah ◽

Kiki Vierdayanti

Keyword(s):

Black Hole ◽

Binary System ◽

Accretion Rate ◽

Spectral Evolution ◽

X Ray ◽

Mass Accretion Rate ◽

Blackbody Model ◽

Chi Squared ◽

Dominant State ◽

Black Hole Binary

We analyze the spectral evolution of ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) M82 X-1 by means of spectral fitting. We use selected Swift/XRT data in 2014 and 2015. The flux of M82 X-1 increased by a factor of 2-3 from 2014 to 2015. Most of the data in 2015 show greater dominance of hard component than those of 2014. Due to moderate signal-to-noise ratio, we only fit each spectrum with power-law and disk blackbody model separately. The data in 2014 are better fitted with powerlaw model based on the value of reduced-chi squared. On the other hand, both powerlaw and diskbb models showed comparable re- duced chi-squared value for the data in 2015. We found that the range of spectral index for 2014 data is 1.65 < Γ < 2.08 and for 2015 data is 1.02 < Γ < 1.95 from the powerlaw model, resembling the range for that of black hole binary system at low mass accretion rate. We obtained higher innermost disk temper- ature from the disk blackbody model, 1.20 keV < Tin < 3.63 keV, compared to that of black hole binary system in the thermal state. The calculated innermost radius of the disk, Rin, varies between 0.99 to 4.89 RS assuming 10 M0 black hole which indicates that the spectral state is not in thermal dominant state but rather we suspect that M82 X-1 exhibits greater mass accretion rate than that of the thermal dominant state.

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Ultraluminous X-ray sources with flat-topped noise and QPO

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stz1027 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 486 (2) ◽

pp. 2766-2779 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kirill Atapin ◽

Sergei Fabrika ◽

Maria D Caballero-García

Keyword(s):

Black Hole ◽

Power Density ◽

Root Mean Square ◽

Accretion Rate ◽

Mean Square ◽

Periodic Oscillations ◽

Simple Interpretation ◽

X Ray ◽

Mass Accretion Rate ◽

Ngc 6946

ABSTRACT We analysed the X-ray power density spectra of five ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) NGC 5408 X-1, NGC 6946 X-1, M 82 X-1, NGC 1313 X-1, and IC 342 X-1 that are the only ULXs that display both flat-topped noise (FTN) and quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs). We studied the QPO frequencies, fractional root-mean-square (rms) variability, X-ray luminosity, and spectral hardness. We found that the level of FTN is anticorrelated with the QPO frequency. As the frequency of the QPO and brightness of the sources increase, their fractional variability decreases. We propose a simple interpretation using the spherization radius, viscosity time, and α-parameter as basic properties of these systems. The main physical driver of the observed variability is the mass accretion rate that varies ≳3 between different observations of the same source. As the accretion rate decreases the spherization radius reduces and the FTN plus the QPO move towards higher frequencies, resulting in a decrease of the fractional rms variability. We also propose that in all ULXs when the accretion rate is low enough (but still super-Eddington) the QPO and FTN disappear. Assuming that the maximum X-ray luminosity depends only on the black hole (BH) mass and not on the accretion rate (not considering the effects of either the inclination of the super-Eddington disc or geometrical beaming of radiation), we estimate that all the ULXs have about similar BH masses, with the exception of M 82 X-1, which might be 10 times more massive.

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X-ray properties of reverberation-mapped AGNs with super-Eddington accreting massive black holes

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921320002756 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (S356) ◽

pp. 143-143

Author(s):

Jaya Maithil ◽

Michael S. Brotherton ◽

Bin Luo ◽

Ohad Shemmer ◽

Sarah C. Gallagher ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Black Holes ◽

Black Hole ◽

Accretion Rate ◽

Time Lags ◽

Black Hole Mass ◽

Host Galaxies ◽

Massive Black Holes ◽

X Ray ◽

Photon Index ◽

The Impact

AbstractActive Galactic Nuclei (AGN) exhibit multi-wavelength properties that are representative of the underlying physical processes taking place in the vicinity of the accreting supermassive black hole. The black hole mass and the accretion rate are fundamental for understanding the growth of black holes, their evolution, and the impact on the host galaxies. Recent results on reverberation-mapped AGNs show that the highest accretion rate objects have systematic shorter time-lags. These super-Eddington accreting massive black holes (SEAMBHs) show BLR size 3-8 times smaller than predicted by the Radius-Luminosity (R-L) relationship. Hence, the single-epoch virial black hole mass estimates of highly accreting AGNs have an overestimation of a factor of 3-8 times. SEAMBHs likely have a slim accretion disk rather than a thin disk that is diagnostic in X-ray. I will present the extreme X-ray properties of a sample of dozen of SEAMBHs. They indeed have a steep hard X-ray photon index, Γ, and demonstrate a steeper power-law slope, ασx.

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Searching for a link between the magnetic nature and other observed properties of Herbig Ae/Be stars

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s174392130903083x ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 4 (S259) ◽

pp. 395-396 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Swetlana Hubrig ◽

C. Grady ◽

M. Schöller ◽

O. Schütz ◽

B. Stelzer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Field Survey ◽

Accretion Rate ◽

Be Stars ◽

General Correlation ◽

X Ray ◽

Mass Accretion Rate ◽

Debris Disk ◽

Magnetic Nature

AbstractWe present the results of a new magnetic field survey of Herbig Ae/Be and A debris disk stars. They are used to determine whether magnetic field properties in these stars are correlated with the mass-accretion rate, disk inclinations, companion(s), Silicates, PAHs, or show a more general correlation with age and X-ray emission as expected for the decay of a remnant dynamo.

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Radiative efficiency of hot accretion flow and the radio/X-ray correlation in X-ray binaries

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s1743921315007723 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (S312) ◽

pp. 139-140

Author(s):

Fu-Guo Xie

Keyword(s):

Black Hole ◽

Active Galactic Nuclei ◽

Accretion Rate ◽

Galactic Nuclei ◽

X Ray ◽

Radiative Efficiency ◽

Accretion Flow ◽

Accretion Rates ◽

Distinctive Property ◽

X Ray Binaries

AbstractSignificant progresses have been made since the discovery of hot accretion flow, a theory successfully applied to the low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs) and black hole (BH) X-ray binaries (BHBs) in their hard states. Motivated by these updates, we re-investigate the radiative efficiency of hot accretion flow. We find that, the brightest regime of hot accretion flow shows a distinctive property, i.e. it has a constant efficiency independent of accretion rates, similar to the standard thin disk. For less bright regime, the efficiency has a steep positive correlation with the accretion rate, while for faint regime typical of advection-dominated accretion flow, the correlation is shadower. This result can naturally explain the observed two distinctive correlations between radio and X-ray luminosities in black hole X-ray binaries. The key difference in systems with distinctive correlations could be the viscous parameter, which determines the critical luminosity of different accretion modes.

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Thermal and radiation driving can produce observable disc winds in hard-state X-ray binaries

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/staa209 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 492 (4) ◽

pp. 5271-5279 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Nick Higginbottom ◽

Christian Knigge ◽

Stuart A Sim ◽

Knox S Long ◽

James H Matthews ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Black Hole ◽

Binary Systems ◽

Velocity Structure ◽

Spectral Energy ◽

X Ray ◽

Black Hole Binaries ◽

Soft State ◽

Before And After ◽

Hard State ◽

New Generation

ABSTRACT X-ray signatures of outflowing gas have been detected in several accreting black hole binaries, always in the soft state. A key question raised by these observations is whether these winds might also exist in the hard state. Here, we carry out the first full-frequency radiation hydrodynamic simulations of luminous (${L = 0.5 \, L_{\mathrm{\mathrm{ Edd}}}}$) black hole X-ray binary systems in both the hard and the soft state, with realistic spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Our simulations are designed to describe X-ray transients near the peak of their outburst, just before and after the hard-to-soft state transition. At these luminosities, it is essential to include radiation driving, and we include not only electron scattering, but also photoelectric and line interactions. We find powerful outflows with ${\dot{M}_{\mathrm{ wind}} \simeq 2 \, \dot{M}_{\mathrm{ acc}}}$ are driven by thermal and radiation pressure in both hard and soft states. The hard-state wind is significantly faster and carries approximately 20 times as much kinetic energy as the soft-state wind. However, in the hard state the wind is more ionized, and so weaker X-ray absorption lines are seen over a narrower range of viewing angles. Nevertheless, for inclinations ≳80°, blueshifted wind-formed Fe xxv and Fe xxvi features should be observable even in the hard state. Given that the data required to detect these lines currently exist for only a single system in a luminous hard state – the peculiar GRS 1915+105 – we urge the acquisition of new observations to test this prediction. The new generation of X-ray spectrometers should be able to resolve the velocity structure.

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