NuSTAR SPECTROSCOPY OF GRS 1915+105: DISK REFLECTION, SPIN, AND CONNECTIONS TO JETS
We report on the results of spectral fits made to a NuSTAR observation of the black hole GRS 1915+105 in a "plateau" state. This state is of special interest because it is similar to the "low/hard" state seen in other black holes, especially in that compact, steady jets are launc...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88257 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8804-8946 |
| _version_ | 1826202081016414208 |
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| author | Miller, J. M. Parker, M. L. Fuerst, F. Bachetti, Matteo Harrison, Fiona A. Barret, Didier Boggs, Steven E. Christensen, Finn E. Craig, William W. Fabian, Andrew C. Grefenstette, Brian W. Hailey, Charles J. King, A. L. Stern, D. K. Tomsick, J. A. Walton, D. J. Zhang, W. W. Chakrabarty, Deepto |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Miller, J. M. Parker, M. L. Fuerst, F. Bachetti, Matteo Harrison, Fiona A. Barret, Didier Boggs, Steven E. Christensen, Finn E. Craig, William W. Fabian, Andrew C. Grefenstette, Brian W. Hailey, Charles J. King, A. L. Stern, D. K. Tomsick, J. A. Walton, D. J. Zhang, W. W. Chakrabarty, Deepto |
| author_sort | Miller, J. M. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We report on the results of spectral fits made to a NuSTAR observation of the black hole GRS 1915+105 in a "plateau" state. This state is of special interest because it is similar to the "low/hard" state seen in other black holes, especially in that compact, steady jets are launched in this phase. The 3-79 keV bandpass of NuSTAR, and its ability to obtain moderate-resolution spectra free from distortions such as photon pile-up, are extremely well suited to studies of disk reflection in X-ray binaries. In only 15 ks of net exposure, an extraordinarily sensitive spectrum of GRS 1915+105 was measured across the full bandpass. Ionized reflection from a disk around a rapidly spinning black hole is clearly required to fit the spectra; even hybrid Comptonization models including ionized reflection from a disk around a Schwarzschild black hole proved inadequate. A spin parameter of a = 0.98 ± 0.01 (1σ statistical error) is measured via the best-fit model; low spins are ruled out at a high level of confidence. This result suggests that jets can be launched from a disk extending to the innermost stable circular orbit. A very steep inner disk emissivity profile is also measured, consistent with models of compact coronae above Kerr black holes. These results support an emerging association between the hard X-ray corona and the base of the relativistic jet. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:01:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/88257 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:01:34Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/882572022-09-27T23:35:41Z NuSTAR SPECTROSCOPY OF GRS 1915+105: DISK REFLECTION, SPIN, AND CONNECTIONS TO JETS Miller, J. M. Parker, M. L. Fuerst, F. Bachetti, Matteo Harrison, Fiona A. Barret, Didier Boggs, Steven E. Christensen, Finn E. Craig, William W. Fabian, Andrew C. Grefenstette, Brian W. Hailey, Charles J. King, A. L. Stern, D. K. Tomsick, J. A. Walton, D. J. Zhang, W. W. Chakrabarty, Deepto Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Chakrabarty, Deepto We report on the results of spectral fits made to a NuSTAR observation of the black hole GRS 1915+105 in a "plateau" state. This state is of special interest because it is similar to the "low/hard" state seen in other black holes, especially in that compact, steady jets are launched in this phase. The 3-79 keV bandpass of NuSTAR, and its ability to obtain moderate-resolution spectra free from distortions such as photon pile-up, are extremely well suited to studies of disk reflection in X-ray binaries. In only 15 ks of net exposure, an extraordinarily sensitive spectrum of GRS 1915+105 was measured across the full bandpass. Ionized reflection from a disk around a rapidly spinning black hole is clearly required to fit the spectra; even hybrid Comptonization models including ionized reflection from a disk around a Schwarzschild black hole proved inadequate. A spin parameter of a = 0.98 ± 0.01 (1σ statistical error) is measured via the best-fit model; low spins are ruled out at a high level of confidence. This result suggests that jets can be launched from a disk extending to the innermost stable circular orbit. A very steep inner disk emissivity profile is also measured, consistent with models of compact coronae above Kerr black holes. These results support an emerging association between the hard X-ray corona and the base of the relativistic jet. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Contract NNG08FD06C) 2014-07-11T12:15:33Z 2014-07-11T12:15:33Z 2013-09 2013-07 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2041-8205 2041-8213 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88257 Miller, J. M., M. L. Parker, F. Fuerst, M. Bachetti, F. A. Harrison, D. Barret, S. E. Boggs, et al. “NuSTAR SPECTROSCOPY OF GRS 1915+105: DISK REFLECTION, SPIN, AND CONNECTIONS TO JETS.” The Astrophysical Journal 775, no. 2 (October 1, 2013): L45. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8804-8946 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/775/2/l45 The Astrophysical Journal Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf IOP Publishing arXiv |
| spellingShingle | Miller, J. M. Parker, M. L. Fuerst, F. Bachetti, Matteo Harrison, Fiona A. Barret, Didier Boggs, Steven E. Christensen, Finn E. Craig, William W. Fabian, Andrew C. Grefenstette, Brian W. Hailey, Charles J. King, A. L. Stern, D. K. Tomsick, J. A. Walton, D. J. Zhang, W. W. Chakrabarty, Deepto NuSTAR SPECTROSCOPY OF GRS 1915+105: DISK REFLECTION, SPIN, AND CONNECTIONS TO JETS |
| title | NuSTAR SPECTROSCOPY OF GRS 1915+105: DISK REFLECTION, SPIN, AND CONNECTIONS TO JETS |
| title_full | NuSTAR SPECTROSCOPY OF GRS 1915+105: DISK REFLECTION, SPIN, AND CONNECTIONS TO JETS |
| title_fullStr | NuSTAR SPECTROSCOPY OF GRS 1915+105: DISK REFLECTION, SPIN, AND CONNECTIONS TO JETS |
| title_full_unstemmed | NuSTAR SPECTROSCOPY OF GRS 1915+105: DISK REFLECTION, SPIN, AND CONNECTIONS TO JETS |
| title_short | NuSTAR SPECTROSCOPY OF GRS 1915+105: DISK REFLECTION, SPIN, AND CONNECTIONS TO JETS |
| title_sort | nustar spectroscopy of grs 1915 105 disk reflection spin and connections to jets |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/88257 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8804-8946 |
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