On Neutral Absorption and Spectral Evolution in X-ray Binaries

Abstract

Current X-ray observatories make it possible to follow the evolution of transient and variable X-ray binaries across a broad range in luminosity and source behavior. In such studies, it can be unclear whether evolution in the low energy portion of the spectrum should be attributed to evolution in the source, or instead to evolution in neutral photoelectric absorption. Dispersive spectrometers make it possible to address this problem. We have analyzed a small but diverse set of X-ray binaries observed with the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer across a range in luminosity and different spectral states. The column density in individual photoelectric absorption edges remains constant with luminosity, both within and across source spectral states. This finding suggests that absorption in the interstellar medium strongly dominates the neutral column density observed in spectra of X-ray binaries. Consequently, evolution in the low energy spectrum of X-ray binaries should properly be attributed to evolution in the source spectrum. We discuss our results in the context of X-ray binary spectroscopy with current and future X-ray missions.

Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

References in corpus (13)

• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• The magnetic nature of disk accretion onto black holes
• A Long, Hard Look at the Low-Hard State in Accreting Black Holes
• The Accretion Disk Wind in the Black Hole GRO J1655-40
• Relativistic iron emission lines in neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries as probes of neutron star radii
• The 2003 Outburst of the X-ray Transient H 1743-322: Comparisons with the Black Hole Microquasar XTE J1550-564
• High-Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy of the Interstellar Medium II: Neon and Iron Absorption Edges
• Chandra X-ray spectroscopy of the focused wind in the Cygnus X-1 system. I. The non-dip spectrum in the low/hard state
• On the variation of black hole accretion disc radii as a function of state and accretion rate
• Heating in an Extended Accretion Disk Corona along the Z-Pattern in Cyg X-2
• The Variable Warm Absorber in Circinus X-1
• INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton Spectroscopy of GX 339-4 During Hard/Soft Intermediate and High/Soft States in the 2007 Outburst
• Investigating the nature of absorption lines in the Chandra X-ray spectra of the neutron star binary 4U 1820-30

Cited by in corpus (39)

• The Dense Matter Equation of State from Neutron Star Radius and Mass Measurements
• The Spin of the Black Hole Microquasar XTE J1550-564 via the Continuum-Fitting and Fe-Line Methods
• Black hole accretion disks in the canonical low-hard state
• A Chandra survey of fluorescence Fe lines in X-ray Binaries at high resolution
• A Swift survey of accretion onto stellar-mass black holes
• Decoding the X-ray Properties of Pre-Reionization Era Sources
• The truncated and evolving inner accretion disc of the black hole GX 339-4
• Models of quasi-periodic oscillations related to mass and spin of the GRO J1655-40 black hole
• Systematic Uncertainties in the Spectroscopic Measurements of Neutron-Star Masses and Radii from Thermonuclear X-ray Bursts. I. Apparent Radii
• Discovery of the Third Transient X-ray Binary in the Galactic Globular Cluster Terzan 5
• XMM-Newton campaign on the ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 247 ULX-1: outflows
• On Relativistic Disk Spectroscopy in Compact Objects with X-ray CCD Cameras
• NuSTAR Observations of the Accreting Atolls GX 3+1, 4U 1702-429, 4U 0614+091, and 4U 1746-371
• On the Role of the Accretion Disk in Black Hole Disk-Jet Connections
• Long-term X-ray spectral evolution of Ultraluminous X-ray sources: implications on the accretion flow geometry and the nature of the accretor
• Multi-state observations of the Galactic Black Hole XTE J1752-223: Evidence for an intermediate black hole spin
• The Quiescent X-ray Spectrum of Accreting Black Holes
• ISMabs: a comprehensive X-ray absorption model for the interstellar medium
• Revisiting Putative Cool Accretion Disks in Ultraluminous X-ray Sources
• A direct measurement of the heat release in the outer crust of the transiently accreting neutron star XTE J1709-267
• Continued Neutron Star Crust Cooling of the 11 Hz X-Ray Pulsar in Terzan 5: A Challenge to Heating and Cooling Models?
• Spectral hardening as a viable alternative to disc truncation in black hole state transitions
• Evidence of Light-Bending Effects and its implication for spectral state transitions
• Detection of X-ray spectral state transitions in mini-outbursts of black hole transient GRS 1739-278
• The radio-bright accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar IGR J17591-2342
• Controversy of the GRO J1655-40 black hole mass and spin estimates and its possible solutions
• Physical properties of the interstellar medium using high-resolution Chandra spectra: O K-edge absorption
• AstroSat Observation of X-ray Dips and State Transition in the Black Hole Candidate MAXI J1803-298
• Multi-Wavelength Coverage of State Transitions in the New Black Hole X-Ray Binary Swift J1910.2-0546
• The spins of the Galactic black holes in MAXI J1535-571 and 4U 1630-472 from Insight-HXMT
• On the Origin of Highly Ionized X-ray Absorbers Detected in the Galactic X-ray Binaries
• Swift observations of 1FGL J1018.6-5856
• Multiwavelength observations of the black hole transient XTE J1752-223 during its 2010 outburst decay
• Swift and RXTE observations of the black hole transient GX 339-4 in the hard state between outbursts
• Ignition column depths of helium-rich thermonuclear bursts from 4U 1728-34
• The hot interstellar medium towards 4U 1820-30: a Bayesian analysis
• The 2013 outburst of a transient very faint X-ray binary, 23" from Sgr A*
• Are spectral and timing correlations similar in different spectral states in black hole X-ray binaries?
• Temperature Measurement during Thermonuclear X-ray Bursts with BeppoSAX