The X-ray States and High Frequency Oscillations of Black Holes Binaries

Ron Remillard, MIT

Primary Collaborator, Jeff McClintock CfA

Outline

Three States of Active Accretion (1035 > Lx > 1039 erg/s) Frequent, Rapid Transitions ; Distinct Spectral and Timing Properties Quantitative Definitions ; Select Data to test Physical Models 3-state versus 2-state Prescriptions for States

Study Accretion in Strong Gravity Thermal State: Relativistic Accretion Disk Hard State: Steady Radio Jets ; Broad Fe Line Steep Power Law: Poorly Understood; High-Frequency Oscillations

High-Frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillations Observational Properties Frequency Link to radii, R < 10 Rg

BH Outbursts & States

Companion star: early K III

Mx = 9.6 + 1.2 M

(Orosz et al. 2002)

XTE J1550-564 discovered, Sep. 6, 1998

BH Outbursts & States

X-ray states:

Thermal xHard (jet)

Steep Power Law Intermediate O

Thermal State

Energy spectra Power density spectra State Definition

disk emits > 75% of energythermal power continuum: rms < 0.06

no QPO with rms > 0.005

accretion disk

weakpower law

weak powercontinuum______| |

Hard State

Energy spectra Power density spectra State Definition

thermal

disk energy fraction < 0.2hard state power law spectrum: < 2.1

power continuum rms > 0.1

Broken power law

1 2

Fe line

|______|

strongpower continuum

Steep Power Law StateEnergy spectra Power density spectra State Definition

power law > 2.4

steep power law disk fraction < 0.8QPO (0.1 – 30 Hz)continuum rms < 0.075

thermal

hard state

Steep power law

disk

Fe

Physical Models for BHB StatesEnergy spectra Power density spectra State Physical Model

steep power law

thermal

hard state

Disk + ??

X-ray States: The Movie

X-ray States: The Movie

States of Black Hole BinariesSources “Agreeable” Problems (high % intermediate)

LMC X-3 LMC X-1 (soft, but high rms, G)XTE J1118+480 4U 1630-47 (50% int.; bad fits)GS 1354-64 V4641 Sgr (embedded; highly var.)4U1543-47 GRS1915+105/steady (high rms, G)XTE J1550-564 Cyg X-1 (very cool disk)XTE J1650-500GRO J1655-40GX339-4H1743-322 (gaps between state parameters [4]SL 1746-331 are more frequently occupied XTE J1748-288 in “problem” sources)XTE J1817-330 XTE J1818-245XTE J1859+226XTE J2012+381

Unified Model for Jets in BH Binaries Remillard 2005

Thermal x Hard (jet)

Steep Power Law Intermediate O

Hard Color

Fender, Belloni, & Gallo 2004

BH States: Overview PlotsGRO J1655-40

1996-97 outburst

Thermal x

Hard (jet)

Steep Power Law

Intermediate O

BH States OverviewH1743-322

Mx unknown (ISM dust)

HEAO-1 outburst: 1977RXTE: 2003; smaller 2005+ 5 faint ones 2006-2009

Thermal x

Hard (jet)

Steep Power Law

Intermediate O

BH States Overview4U1543-47

Mx = 10 + 1.2 Mo

Outbursts 2002

Thermal x

Hard (jet)

Steep Power Law

Intermediate O

BH States OverviewXTE J1859+226

Mx = + 1.2 Mo

Outburst 1999

Thermal x

Hard (jet)

Steep Power Law

Intermediate O

BH States OverviewXTEJ1550-564

Mx = 9.6 + 1.2 Mo

Outburst 1998 ; smaller, 2000; + 3 faint hard-state outbursts

2001, 2002, 2003

Thermal x

Hard (jet)

Steep Power Law

Intermediate O

Short-cut to Sates Classification?

80-90% success in regions of plane:Normalized hard color vs. 1-s flickering

Why is Steep Power Law a Distinct Type of Soft State?

Accretion disk theory (thermal state) does not naturally provide:

‘Corona’ of 10 – 500 keV (perhaps higher) Means to convert up to 90% of the energy into a corona Frequent and variable low-frequency QPOs (0.1-30 Hz) High-frequency QPOs > 100 Hz

The SPL is also different from the Hard State:

SPL is radio-dim or radio-off Power-law photon index ~2.5 (vs. 1.7 for hard state) Power-density spectrum lacks the strong rms of the hard state

3-State Prescription vs. Hard/Soft States

Steep Power Law Mechanisms(Inverse Compton scattering is the expected radiation mechanism,

but “a corona of unspecified origin” is inadequate !)

Bulk Motion Comptonization in Plunging Region (Titarchuk 1997; Montanari et al. 2009 ; Titarchuk & Seifina 2009)

… but how do you get 90% energy in the power law?

Shocks at Transition to Radial Flow (S. Charkrabarti 1990; Kinsuck et al. 2010)

… not confirmed by other groups

Strongly Magnetized Disks (vs. weakly magn. MRI in thermal state)Mag. Spiral Waves (Tagger & Pellat 1998; Tagger & Varniere 2006 Fu & Lai 2009)

… can MHD simulations confirm this concept?

High Frequency QPOs (100-450 Hz)

8 Black Hole Binarieswith transient HFQPOs

4 with two QPOs(seldom at the same time)

4 seen solo

several require multiple observations

to gain a single detection

HFQPO stability

Variable constant to 5% outliers can shift 15%

correlation 3:2 ratio

X-ray state Steep Power Law

Luminosity range factors ~ 3-6

Preferred HFQPO Frequencies

High Frequency QPOs

source Frequency(Hz)

GRO J1655-40 300, 450

XTE J1550-564 184, 276

GRS 1915+105 41, 67, 113, 168

XTE J1859+226 190

4U1630-472 184

XTE J1650-500 250

H1743-322 166, 242

Cyg X-1 135

-------

High Frequency QPOs

source Frequency(Hz)

GRO J1655-40 300, 450

XTE J1550-564 184, 276

GRS 1915+105 41, 67, 113, 168

XTE J1859+226 190

4U1630-472 184

XTE J1650-500 250

H1743-322 165, 241

Cyg X-1 135

-------

4 HFQPO pairs with frequencies in 3:2 ratio

HFQPO Frequencies vs. BH Mass

o = 931 Hz / Mx

Same QPO mechanism and similar spin

Compare subclasses

while model efforts continue

HFQPO Frequencies vs. BH Mass

+2 BHBs with single HFQPO

(Q~4; broad energy range;

harmonic 2)

Increase Mass accuracy(McClintock et al. ;

CfA and MIT time at Magellan)

HFQPOs Mechanisms

Diskoseismology (Wagoner 1999 ; Kato 2001) obs. frequencies require nonlinear modes?

Resonance in Inner Disk (Abramowicz & Kluzniak 2001). Parametric Resonance (coupling in GR frequencies for {r, }

Kluzniak et all. 2005; Horak & Karas 2006; Stuchlik et al. 2008) Resonance with Global Disk Warp (S. Kato 2004)

Torus Models (Rezzolla et al. 2003; Fragile et al. 2005; Bursa 2007; Horak 2008)

Spiral Waves in a Magnetized Disk (AEI) (Tagger & Varniere 2006) p-modes in Magnetized Disks (Fu & Lai 2009)

MHD Simulations and HFQPOs (Y. Kato 2004… retracted ?)with spin-disk tilt (Fragile & Blaes 2009)

HFQPOs and States: GROJ1655-40 (1996)

300 Hz only ; 7-30 keV

both HFQPOs

450 Hz only ; 15-30 keV

Dynamical Frequencies in General Relativity

“Keplerian” frequency

Dynamical Frequencies in General Relativity

polar anglefrequency

Dynamical Frequencies in General Relativity

r radial frequency

ISCOInnermost Stable Circular Orbit

Disk Radiation in General Relativity

Radius of peak emissivity

Page & Thorne 1974

QPO Frequencies

High-frequency QPOs

QPO Frequencies

\High-frequency QPOs

QPO Frequencies

QPOs:168 113 Hz67

67 Hz Detections in GRS1915+105

28 detections > 4 ; stable to 2 Hz over 12 years

Quantitative Applications for General Relativity

Thermal State Relativistic accretion disk theory MHD simulations: viscosity from magneto-rotational instability

Hard State Models for steady jets from accreting black holes Impulsive, relativistic jets while crossing state boundaries Model Fe line profiles to deduce spin MHD simulations: effects of global B-field

Steep Power Law Stable HFQPOs near dynamical frequencies for disk radii, R < 10 Rg

and 3:2 frequency ratio MHD simulations: what seed conditions strongly magnetized disk?

Steep power law spectrum (and HFQPOs) need your attention !