Disk-Wind Connection During the Heartbeats of GRS 1915+105

Abstract

Disk and wind signatures are seen in the soft state of Galactic black holes, while the jet is seen in the hard state. Here we study the disk-wind connection in the $\rho$ class of variability in GRS 1915+105 using a joint NuSTAR-Chandra observation. The source shows 50 sec limit cycle oscillations. By including new information provided by the reflection spectrum, and using phase-resolved spectroscopy, we find that the change in the inner disk inferred from the blackbody emission is not matched by reflection measurements. The latter is almost constant, independent of the continuum model. The two radii are comparable only if the disk temperature color correction factor changes, an effect that could be due to the changing opacity of the disk caused by changes in metal abundances. The disk inclination is similar to that inferred from the jet axis, and oscillates by ~10 deg. The simultaneous Chandra data show the presence of two wind components with velocities between 500-5000 km/s, and possibly two more with velocities reaching 20,000 km/s (~0.06 c). The column densities are ~5e22 cm${}^{-2}$. An upper limit to the wind response time of 2 sec is measured, implying a launch radius of <6e10 cm. The changes in wind velocity and absorbed flux require the geometry of the wind to change during the oscillations, constraining the wind to be launched from a distance of 290 - 1300 rg from the black hole. Both datasets support fundamental model predictions in which a bulge originates in the inner disk and moves outward as the instability progresses.

Accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (9)

• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• Modelling the behaviour of accretion flows in X-ray binaries
• The magnetic nature of disk accretion onto black holes
• A Parallax Distance to the Microquasar GRS 1915+105 and a Revised Estimate of its Black Hole Mass
• No Time for Dead Time: Timing analysis of bright black hole binaries with NuSTAR
• Saturation of the MRI in Strongly Radiation Dominated Accretion Disks
• On the limit cycle instability in magnetized accretion discs
• Reflection dominated X-ray spectra of Narrow Line Seyfert 1 Galaxies: Mrk 478 and EXO 1346.2+2645
• Phase-Resolved Timing Analysis of GRS 1915+105 in Its ρ State

Cited by in corpus (20)

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• The luminosity dependence of thermally-driven disc winds in low-mass X-ray binaries
• The Novel Obscured State of Stellar-mass Black Hole GRS 1915+105
• Disentangling the Complex Broadband X-ray Spectrum of IRAS 13197-1627 with NuSTAR, XMM-Newton and Suzaku
• StrayCats: A catalog of NuSTAR Stray Light Observations
• Insight-HXMT observations of a possible fast transition from jet to wind dominated state during a huge flare of GRS~1915+105
• A Redshifted Inner Disk Atmosphere and Transient Absorbers in the Ultra-Compact Neutron Star X-ray Binary 4U 1916-053
• Mapping the X-ray variability of GRS1915+105 with machine learning
• A new variability pattern in GRS 1915+105 with NICER and Insight-HXMT observations
• On the wind-driven relaxation cycle in accretion disks
• Accretion disc winds in X-ray binaries
• 20 years of disk winds in 4U 1630-47 -- I. Long-term behavior and influence of hard X-rays
• Dimming GRS 1915+105 observed with NICER and Insight--HXMT
• Likely detection of magnetic field related LFQPO in the soft X-ray re-brightening of GRS~1915+105
• NICER Spectral and Timing Analysis of 4U 1630$-$47 and its Heartbeat State
• Exploring the accretion-ejection geometry of GRS 1915+105 in the obscured state with future X-ray spectro-polarimetry
• Probing heartbeat oscillations from the black hole X-ray binary GRS 1915+105 using spectral-timing analysis
• Recurrent Instability in LMXB Accretion Disks: How Strange is GRS 1915+105?