Black hole accretion disks in the canonical low-hard state

Abstract

Stellar-mass black holes in the low-hard state may hold clues to jet formation and basic accretion disk physics, but the nature of the accretion flow remains uncertain. A standard thin disk can extend close to the innermost stable circular orbit, but the inner disk may evaporate when the mass accretion rate is reduced. Blackbody-like continuum emission and dynamically-broadened iron emission lines provide independent means of probing the radial extent of the inner disk. Here, we present an X-ray study of eight black holes in the low-hard state. A thermal disk continuum with a colour temperature consistent with $L\propto T^4$ is clearly detected in all eight sources, down to $\approx 5\times 10^{-4}{L}_{Edd}$. In six sources, disk models exclude a truncation radius larger than 10rg. Iron-ka fluorescence line emission is observed in half of the sample, down to luminosities of $\approx 1.5\times 10^{-3}{L}_{Edd}$. Detailed fits to the line profiles exclude a truncated disk in each case. If strong evidence of truncation is defined as (1) a non-detection of a broad iron line, {\it and} (2) an inner disk temperature much cooler than expected from the $\mathrm{L}\propto {\mathrm{T}}^4$ relation, none of the spectra in this sample offer strong evidence of disk truncation. This suggests that the inner disk may evaporate at or below $\approx 1.5\times 10^{-3}{L}_{Edd}$.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 20 pages, 18 figures

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