Spectral analysis of the XMM-Newton data of GX 339-4 in the low/hard state: disc truncation and reflection

Abstract

We analyse all available observations of GX 339--4 by XMM-Newton in the hard spectral state. We jointly fit the spectral data by Comptonization and the currently best reflection code, relxill. We consider in detail a contribution from a standard blackbody accretion disc, testing whether its inner radius can be set equal to that of the reflector. However, this leads to an unphysical behaviour of the disc truncation radius, implying the soft X-ray component is not a standard blackbody disc. This appears to be due to irradiation by the hard X-rays, which strongly dominate the total emission. We consider a large array of models, testing, e.g., the effects of the chosen energy range, of adding unblurred reflection, and assuming a lamppost geometry. We find the effects of relativistic broadening to be relatively weak in all cases. In the coronal models, we find the inner radius to be large. In the lamppost model, the inner radius is unconstrained, but when fixed to the innermost stable orbit, the height of the source is large, which also implies a weak relativistic broadening. In the former models, the inner radius correlates with the X-ray hardness ratio, which is consistent with the presence of a truncated disc turning into a complete disc in the soft state. We also find the degree of the disc ionization to anti-correlate with the hardness, leading to strong spectral broadening due to scattering of reflected photons in the reflector in the softest studied states.

MNRAS, in press

References in corpus (16)

• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• Modelling the behaviour of accretion flows in X-ray binaries
• Constraining Black Hole Spin Via X-ray Spectroscopy
• The role of the reflection fraction in constraining black hole spin
• A Long, Hard Look at the Low-Hard State in Accreting Black Holes
• A Parallax Distance to the Microquasar GRS 1915+105 and a Revised Estimate of its Black Hole Mass
• Three-Dimensional Simulations of Magnetized Thin Accretion Disks around Black Holes: Stress in the Plunging Region
• A systematic look at the Very High and Low/Hard state of GX 339-4: Constraining the black hole spin with a new reflection model
• X-ray irradiation in XTE J1817-330 and the inner radius of the truncated disc in the hard state
• Reprocessing of X-rays in the outer accretion disc of the black hole binary XTE J1817--330
• X-ray reflection in accreting stellar-mass black hole systems
• On the masses and evolutionary status of the black hole binary GX 339-4. A twin system of XTE J1550-564?
• Broadband X-ray Spectra of GX 339-4 and the Geometry of Accreting Black Holes in the Hard State
• Initial Measurements of Black Hole Spin in GX 339-4 from Suzaku Spectroscopy
• An Empirical Method for Improving the Quality of RXTE PCA Spectra
• The jet kinetic power, distance and inclination of GRS 1915+105

Cited by in corpus (56)

• Normalizing a Relativistic Model of X-ray Reflection: The Definition of the Reflection Fraction and its Implementation in relxill
• Towards precision measurements of accreting black holes using X-ray reflection spectroscopy
• The Analogous Structure of Accretion Flows in Supermassive and Stellar Mass Black Holes: New Insights from Faded Changing-Look Quasars
• The mass function of GX 339-4 from spectroscopic observations of its donor star
• Accretion disks and coronae in the X-ray flashlight
• Analysis of NuSTAR and Suzaku observations of Cyg X-1 in the hard state: evidence for a truncated disc geometry
• Doughnut strikes sandwich: the geometry of hot medium in accreting black hole X-ray binaries
• Reflection Spectra of the Black Hole Binary Candidate MAXI J1535-571 in the Hard State Observed by NuSTAR
• Self-Consistent Black Hole Accretion Spectral Models and the Forgotten Role of Coronal Comptonization of Reflection Emission
• The evolution of GX 339-4 in the low-hard state as seen by NuSTAR and Swift
• Evolution of the reverberation lag in GX 339-4 at the end of an outburst
• Reverberation Reveals the Truncated Disc in the Hard State of GX 339-4
• On the lamppost model of accreting black holes
• The X-ray binary GX 339-4/V821 Ara: the distance, inclination, evolutionary status and mass transfer
• X-ray quasi-periodic oscillations in Lense--Thirring precession model - I. variability of relativistic continuum
• Reflection Spectroscopy of the Black Hole Binary XTE J1752-223 in its Long-Stable Hard State
• A Physical Model for the Spectral-Timing Properties of Accreting Black Holes
• The 2017 Failed Outburst of GX 339-4: Relativistic X-ray Reflection near the Black Hole Revealed by NuSTAR and Swift Spectroscopy
• Lorentz Factors of compact jets in Black hole X-ray binaries
• Understanding X-ray Irradiation in Low-Mass X-ray Binaries directly from their Light-Curves
• The reverberation lag in the low mass X-ray binary H1743-322
• Relativistic reflection and reverberation in GX 339-4 with NICER and NuSTAR
• Evolution of the accretion disk-corona during bright hard-to-soft state transition: A reflection spectroscopic study with GX 339-4
• Spectral study of GX 339-4 with TCAF using Swift/XRT and NuSTAR Observation
• Two major constraints on the inner radii of accretion disks
• Comparison of spectral models for disc truncation in the hard state of GX 339-4
• Thermally-Driven Disc Winds as a Mechanism for X-ray Irradiation Heating in Black Hole X-ray Binaries: The Case Study of GX339-4
• Expanding hot flow in the black hole binary SWIFT J1753.5-0127: evidence from optical timing
• Insight-HXMT, NuSTAR and INTEGRAL Data Show Disk Truncation in the Hard State of the Black-Hole X-Ray Binary MAXI J1820+070
• A spectrally stratified hot accretion flow in the hard state of MAXI J1820+070
• Modelling the Energy Dependence of Black Hole Binary Flows
• Does the disk in the hard state of XTE J1752-223 extend to the innermost stable circular orbit?
• The hard to soft transition of GX 339-4 as seen by Insight-HXMT
• Interference as an origin of the peaked noise in accreting X-ray binaries
• X-ray quasi-periodic oscillations in Lense-Thirring precession model -- II. variability of relativistic iron K$\alpha$ line
• The condensation of the corona for the correlation between the hard X-ray photon index $\Gamma$ and the reflection scaling factor $\Re$ in active galactic nuclei
• Accretion geometry of the black hole binary MAXI J1820+070 probed by frequency-resolved spectroscopy
• Models of Ultra-Luminous X-ray transient sources
• NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of the 2015 outburst decay of GX 339-4
• High-density reflection spectroscopy of black hole X-ray binaries in the hard state
• Illumination of the accretion disk in black hole binaries: An extended jet as the primary source of hard X-rays
• Common origin for black holes in both high mass X-ray binaries and gravitational-wave sources
• The lamppost model: effects of photon trapping, the bottom lamp and disc truncation
• Inclination effects on the X-ray emission of Galactic black-hole binaries
• Timing Analysis of a New Black Hole Candidate MAXI J1803-298 with Insight-HXMT and NICER
• Outbursts in ultracompact X-ray binaries
• Jet production in black-hole X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei: mass feeding and advection of magnetic fields
• Evolution of the truncated disc and inner hot-flow of GX 339-4
• A multi-wavelength study of the hard and soft states of MAXI J1820+070 during its 2018 outburst
• Reflection and timing study of the transient black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1803-298 with NuSTAR
• NuSTAR and Swift observations of Swift J1357.2-0933 during an early phase of its 2017 outburst
• Measuring black hole spins with x-ray reflection spectroscopy: A GRMHD outlook
• Systematic Analysis of Low/Hard State RXTE Spectra of GX 339-4 to Constrain the Geometry of the System
• Investigating the consistency of the shape and flux of X-ray reflection spectra in the hard state with an accretion disk reaching close to the black hole
• Investigating disc-corona interaction in axisymmetric accretion disc models
• Interaction between disk and extended corona in a general relativistic framework