Was an Outburst of Aquila X-1 a Magnetic Flare?

Abstract

I point to an interesting similarity in the radio and the soft X-ray light curves between the November 2009 outburst of the X-ray binary Aquila X-1 and some solar flares. The ratio of the soft X-ray and radio luminosities of Aquila X-1 in that outburst is also similar to some weak solar flares, and so is the radio spectrum near 8 GHz. Based on these, as well as on some other recent studies that point to some similar properties of accretion disk coronae and stellar flares, such as ratio of radio to X-ray luminosities (Laor & Behar 2008), I speculate that the soft X-ray outburst of Aquila X-1 was related to a huge magnetic flare from its disk corona.

accepted by ApJ Letters

References in corpus (6)

• On the origin of radio emission in radio quiet quasars
• A Determination of the Spin of the Black Hole Primary in LMC X-1
• A transient radio jet in an erupting dwarf nova
• Evolution of the radio - X-ray coupling throughout an entire outburst of Aquila X-1
• The role of magnetic reconnection on jet/accretion disk systems
• Eruptions of Magnetic Ropes in Two Homologous Solar Events on 2002 June 1 and 2: a Key to Understanding of an Enigmatic Flare

Cited by in corpus (4)

• The role of fast magnetic reconnection on the radio and gamma-ray emission from the nuclear regions of microquasars and low luminosity AGNs
• Binary interactions with high accretion rates onto main sequence stars
• MHD instabilities in accretion disks and their implications in driving fast magnetic reconnection
• A magnetic reconnection model for explaining the multi-wavelength emission of the microquasars Cyg X-1 and Cyg X-3