Variability as a Predictor for the Hard-to-soft State Transition in GX 339−4
During the outbursts of black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs), their accretion flows transition through several states. The source luminosity rises in the hard state, dominated by nonthermal emission, before transitioning to the blackbody-dominated soft state. As the luminosity decreases, the source tr...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad0294 |
| _version_ | 1827696327282130944 |
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| author | Matteo Lucchini Marina Ten Have Jingyi Wang Jeroen Homan Erin Kara Oluwashina Adegoke Riley Connors Thomas Dauser Javier Garcia Guglielmo Mastroserio Adam Ingram Michiel van der Klis Ole König Collin Lewin Labani Mallick Edward Nathan Patrick O’Neill Christos Panagiotou Joanna Piotrowska Phil Uttley |
| author_facet | Matteo Lucchini Marina Ten Have Jingyi Wang Jeroen Homan Erin Kara Oluwashina Adegoke Riley Connors Thomas Dauser Javier Garcia Guglielmo Mastroserio Adam Ingram Michiel van der Klis Ole König Collin Lewin Labani Mallick Edward Nathan Patrick O’Neill Christos Panagiotou Joanna Piotrowska Phil Uttley |
| author_sort | Matteo Lucchini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During the outbursts of black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs), their accretion flows transition through several states. The source luminosity rises in the hard state, dominated by nonthermal emission, before transitioning to the blackbody-dominated soft state. As the luminosity decreases, the source transitions back into the hard state and fades to quiescence. This picture does not always hold, as ≈40% of the outbursts never leave the hard state. Identifying the physics that govern state transitions remains one of the outstanding open questions in black hole astrophysics. In this paper we present an analysis of archival RXTE data of multiple outbursts of GX 339−4. We compare the properties of the X-ray variability and time-averaged energy spectrum and demonstrate that the variability (quantified by the power spectral hue) systematically evolves ≈10–40 days ahead of the canonical state transition (quantified by a change in spectral hardness); no such evolution is found in hard-state-only outbursts. This indicates that the X-ray variability can be used to predict if and when the hard-to-soft state transition will occur. Finally, we find a similar behavior in 10 outbursts of four additional BHXRBs with more sparse observational coverage. Based on these findings, we suggest that state transitions in BHXRBs might be driven by a change in the turbulence in the outer regions of the disk, leading to a dramatic change in variability. This change is only seen in the spectrum days to weeks later, as the fluctuations propagate inwards toward the corona. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:45:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0cdf307b17cd40d8a55a4e1c404560c1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:45:08Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-0cdf307b17cd40d8a55a4e1c404560c12023-11-21T13:29:01ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572023-01-01958215310.3847/1538-4357/ad0294Variability as a Predictor for the Hard-to-soft State Transition in GX 339−4Matteo Lucchini0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2235-3347Marina Ten Have1Jingyi Wang2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1742-2125Jeroen Homan3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8371-2713Erin Kara4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0172-0854Oluwashina Adegoke5Riley Connors6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8908-759XThomas Dauser7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4583-9048Javier Garcia8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3828-2448Guglielmo Mastroserio9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4216-7936Adam Ingram10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5311-9078Michiel van der Klis11https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0070-9872Ole König12Collin Lewin13https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8671-1190Labani Mallick14https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8624-9162Edward Nathan15Patrick O’Neill16Christos Panagiotou17Joanna Piotrowska18Phil Uttley19https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9355-961XMIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research , MIT, 70 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAMIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research , MIT, 70 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAMIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research , MIT, 70 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USAEureka Scientic, Inc. , 2452 Delmer Street, Oakland, CA 94602, USA; SRON, Netherlands Institute for Space Research , Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584 CA Utrecht, The NetherlandsMIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research , MIT, 70 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USACahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USAVillanova University , Villanova, PA 19085, USADr. Karl Remeis-Observatory and Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg , Sternwartstr. 7, D-96049 Bamberg, GermanyCahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USAINAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari , via della Scienza 5, I-09047 Selargius (CA), ItalyDepartment of Physics, Astrophysics, University of Oxford , Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK; School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Newcastle University , Herschel Building, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UKAnton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam , Science Park 904, NL-1098 XH Amsterdam, The NetherlandsDr. Karl Remeis-Observatory and Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg , Sternwartstr. 7, D-96049 Bamberg, GermanyMIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research , MIT, 70 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USACahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; University of Manitoba , Department of Physics & Astronomy, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada; Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 60 St George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H8, CanadaCahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Department of Physics, Astrophysics, University of Oxford , Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UKSchool of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, Newcastle University , Herschel Building, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UKMIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research , MIT, 70 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USACahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology , Pasadena, CA 91125, USAAnton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam , Science Park 904, NL-1098 XH Amsterdam, The NetherlandsDuring the outbursts of black hole X-ray binaries (BHXRBs), their accretion flows transition through several states. The source luminosity rises in the hard state, dominated by nonthermal emission, before transitioning to the blackbody-dominated soft state. As the luminosity decreases, the source transitions back into the hard state and fades to quiescence. This picture does not always hold, as ≈40% of the outbursts never leave the hard state. Identifying the physics that govern state transitions remains one of the outstanding open questions in black hole astrophysics. In this paper we present an analysis of archival RXTE data of multiple outbursts of GX 339−4. We compare the properties of the X-ray variability and time-averaged energy spectrum and demonstrate that the variability (quantified by the power spectral hue) systematically evolves ≈10–40 days ahead of the canonical state transition (quantified by a change in spectral hardness); no such evolution is found in hard-state-only outbursts. This indicates that the X-ray variability can be used to predict if and when the hard-to-soft state transition will occur. Finally, we find a similar behavior in 10 outbursts of four additional BHXRBs with more sparse observational coverage. Based on these findings, we suggest that state transitions in BHXRBs might be driven by a change in the turbulence in the outer regions of the disk, leading to a dramatic change in variability. This change is only seen in the spectrum days to weeks later, as the fluctuations propagate inwards toward the corona.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad0294Stellar mass black holesRelativistic binary starsAccretion |
| spellingShingle | Matteo Lucchini Marina Ten Have Jingyi Wang Jeroen Homan Erin Kara Oluwashina Adegoke Riley Connors Thomas Dauser Javier Garcia Guglielmo Mastroserio Adam Ingram Michiel van der Klis Ole König Collin Lewin Labani Mallick Edward Nathan Patrick O’Neill Christos Panagiotou Joanna Piotrowska Phil Uttley Variability as a Predictor for the Hard-to-soft State Transition in GX 339−4 The Astrophysical Journal Stellar mass black holes Relativistic binary stars Accretion |
| title | Variability as a Predictor for the Hard-to-soft State Transition in GX 339−4 |
| title_full | Variability as a Predictor for the Hard-to-soft State Transition in GX 339−4 |
| title_fullStr | Variability as a Predictor for the Hard-to-soft State Transition in GX 339−4 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Variability as a Predictor for the Hard-to-soft State Transition in GX 339−4 |
| title_short | Variability as a Predictor for the Hard-to-soft State Transition in GX 339−4 |
| title_sort | variability as a predictor for the hard to soft state transition in gx 339 4 |
| topic | Stellar mass black holes Relativistic binary stars Accretion |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad0294 |
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