NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of the 2015 outburst decay of GX 339-4

Abstract

The extent of the accretion disk in the low/hard state of stellar mass black hole X-ray binaries remains an open question. There are some evidence suggesting that the inner accretion disk is truncated and replaced by a hot flow, while the detection of relativistic broadened iron emission lines seems to require an accretion disk extending fully to the innermost stable circular orbit. We present comprehensive spectral and timing analyses of six Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and XMM-Newton observations of GX 339-4 taken during outburst decay during the autumn of 2015. Using a spectral model consisting of a thermal accretion disk, Comptonized emission, and a relativistic reflection component we obtain a decreasing photon index, consistent with an X-ray binary during outburst decay. Although, we observe a discrepancy in the inner radius of the accretion disk and that of the reflector, which can be addressed to the different underlying assumptions in each model, both model components indicate a truncated accretion disk that resiles with decreasing luminosity. The evolution of the characteristic frequency in Fourier power spectra and their missing energy dependence support the interpretation of a truncated and evolving disk in the hard state. The XMM-Newton dataset allowed us to study, for the first time, the evolution of the covariance spectra and ratio during outburst decay. The covariance ratio increases and steeps during outburst decay, consistent with increased disk instabilities.

arXiv comment18 pages, 8 figures, accepted by ApJ

References in corpus (64)

• On the Absorption of X-rays in the Interstellar Medium
• The Swift X-ray Telescope
• The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Mission
• Atomic Data for Astrophysics. II. New Analytic Fits for Photoionization Cross Sections of Atoms and Ions
• Methods and results of an automatic analysis of a complete sample of Swift-XRT observations of GRBs
• Advection-Dominated Accretion: Underfed Black Holes and Neutron Stars
• The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) on the Swift MIDEX Mission
• Hot Accretion Flows Around Black Holes
• Advection-Dominated Accretion and the Spectral States of Black Hole X-Ray Binaries: Application to Nova Muscae 1991
• Modelling the behaviour of accretion flows in X-ray binaries
• On characterising the variability properties of X-ray light curves from active galaxies
• Broad-band gamma-ray and X-ray spectra of NGC 4151 and their implications for physical processes and geometry
• Improved Reflection Models of Black-Hole Accretion Disks: Treating the Angular Distribution of X-rays
• The May 1989 outburst of the Soft X-ray Transient GS 2023+338 (V404 Cyg)
• The evolution of the timing properties of the black-hole transient GX 339-4 during its 2002/2003 outburst
• The evolution of black hole states
• Measuring Black Hole Spin using X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy
• The ABC of low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in Black-Hole Candidates: analogies with Z-sources
• Jets from black hole X-ray binaries: testing, refining and extending empirical models for the coupling to X-rays
• The role of the reflection fraction in constraining black hole spin
• The disc instability model for X-ray transients: evidence for truncation and irradiation
• Black Hole Spin via Continuum Fitting and the Role of Spin in Powering Transient Jets
• A New Model for Black Hole Soft X-ray Transients in Quiescence
• GX 339-4: the distance, state transitions, hysteresis and spectral correlations
• The Constant Inner-Disk Radius of LMC X-3: A Basis for Measuring Black Hole Spin
• A Long, Hard Look at the Low-Hard State in Accreting Black Holes
• Iron fluorescence from within the innermost stable orbit of black hole accretion disks
• Black hole accretion discs: reality confronts theory
• X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy of the Black Hole GX 339-4: Exploring the Hard State with Unprecedented Sensitivity
• Modeling the Low State Spectrum of the X-Ray Nova XTE J1118+480
• Accretion disc variability in the hard state of black hole X-ray binaries
• 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
• Evidence for Black Hole Spin in GX 339-4: XMM-Newton EPIC-pn and RXTE Spectroscopy of the Very High State
• X-ray reflection in accreting stellar-mass black hole systems
• Complete and Simultaneous Spectral Observations of the Black-Hole X-ray Nova XTE J1118+480
• Truncation of the Inner Accretion Disk around a Black Hole at Low Luminosity
• NuSTAR and Swift observations of the very high state in GX 339-4: Weighing the black hole with X-rays
• Multi-Temperature Blackbody Spectra of Thin Accretion Disks With and Without a Zero-Torque Inner Boundary Condition
• No Time for Dead Time: Timing analysis of bright black hole binaries with NuSTAR
• On the determination of the spin and disc truncation of accreting black holes using X-ray reflection
• Multiwavelength Spectrum of the Black Hole XTE J1118+480 in Quiescence
• The complex accretion geometry of GX 339-4 as seen by NuSTAR and Swift
• A Swift survey of accretion onto stellar-mass black holes
• A re--analysis of the iron line in the XMM-Newton data from the low/hard state in GX339--4
• The truncated and evolving inner accretion disc of the black hole GX 339-4
• 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
• Spectral analysis of the XMM-Newton data of GX 339-4 in the low/hard state: disc truncation and reflection
• The soft component and the iron line as signatures of the disc inner radius in Galactic black hole binaries
• Modelling the high mass accretion rate spectra of GX 339-4: Black hole spin from reflection?
• X-ray spectral transitions of black holes from RXTE All-Sky Monitor
• Limits on spin determination from disc spectral fitting in GX 339-4
• NuSTAR and XMM-Newton Observations of the Hard X-Ray Spectrum of Centaurus A
• The return to the hard state of GX 339-4 as seen by Suzaku
• The formation of the coronal flow/ADAF
• Joint spectral-timing modelling of the hard lags in GX 339-4: constraints on reflection models
• Accretion flow diagnostics with X-ray spectral-timing: the hard state of SWIFT J1753.5-0127
• Long-term X-ray variability and state transition of GX 339-4
• Swift and RXTE observations of the black hole transient GX 339-4 in the hard state between outbursts
• X-ray-binary spectra in the lamp post model
• Energy dependent power spectral states and origin of aperiodic variability in black hole binaries
• Detection of distinct power spectra in soft and hard X-ray bands in the hard state of GRS 1915+105
• Simultaneous independent measurements of a truncated inner accretion disc in the low/hard state of GX 399$-$4

Cited by in corpus (13)

• The evolution of GX 339-4 in the low-hard state as seen by NuSTAR and Swift
• A timing study of MAXI J1820+070 based on Swift/XRT and NICER monitoring in 2018/19
• Embedding planetesimals into white dwarf discs from large distances
• Physical constraints from near-infrared fast photometry of the black-hole transient GX 339-4
• AstroSat view of the newly discovered X-ray transient MAXI~J1803--298 in the Hard-intermediate state
• On the Statistical Properties of Cospectra
• Colors and patterns of black hole X-ray binary GX 339-4
• 2016 outburst of H~1743--322: \textit{XMM-Newton} and \textit{NuSTAR} view
• Inhomogeneities in the light curves of gamma-ray bursts afterglow
• Detection of low-frequency breaks in power density spectrum of GX 339-4 in faint low/hard state observations using AstroSat data
• A journey from the hard to the soft state: How do QPOs evolve in the 2021 outburst of GX 339-4?
• Searching for quantum-gravity footprint around stellar-mass black holes
• NuSTAR and Swift observations of Swift J1357.2-0933 during an early phase of its 2017 outburst