Studying the Reflection Spectra of the New Black Hole X-ray Binary Candidate MAXI J1631-479 Observed by NuSTAR: A Variable Broad Iron Line Profile

Abstract

We present results from the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) observations of the new black hole X-ray binary candidate MAXI J1631-479 at two epochs during its 2018-2019 outburst, which caught the source in a disk dominant state and a power-law dominant state. Strong relativistic disk reflection features are clearly detected, displaying significant variations in the shape and strength of the broad iron emission line between the two states. Spectral modeling of the reflection spectra reveals that the inner radius of the optically-thick accretion disk evolves from $<1.9$ $r_{\mathrm{g}}$ to $12\pm 1$ $r_{\mathrm{g}}$ (statistical errors at 90% confidence level) from the disk dominant to the power-law dominant state. Assuming in the former case that the inner disk radius is consistent with being at the ISCO, we estimate a black hole spin of $a^{\ast }>0.94$. Given that the bolometric luminosity is similar in the two states, our results indicate that the disk truncation observed in MAXI J1631-479 in the power-law dominant state is unlikely to be driven by a global variation in the accretion rate. We propose that it may instead arise from local instabilities in the inner edge of the accretion disk at high accretion rates. In addition, we find an absorption feature in the spectra centered at $7.33\pm 0.03$ keV during the disk dominant state, which is evidence for a rare case that an extremely fast disk wind ($v_{\mathrm{out}}=0.067_{-0.004}^{+0.001}c$) is observed in a low-inclination black hole binary, with the viewing angle of $29\pm 1^{\circ }$ as determined by the reflection modeling.

arXiv comment12 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (85)

• On the Absorption of X-rays in the Interstellar Medium
• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Mission
• Atomic Data for Astrophysics. II. New Analytic Fits for Photoionization Cross Sections of Atoms and Ions
• Advection-Dominated Accretion: Underfed Black Holes and Neutron Stars
• Advection-Dominated Accretion and the Spectral States of Black Hole X-Ray Binaries: Application to Nova Muscae 1991
• The MAXI Mission on the ISS: Science and Instruments for Monitoring All Sky X-Ray Images
• 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
• Evidence for ultra-fast outflows in radio-quiet AGNs: I - detection and statistical incidence of Fe K-shell absorption lines
• The May 1989 outburst of the Soft X-ray Transient GS 2023+338 (V404 Cyg)
• The Spin of the Near-Extreme Kerr Black Hole GRS 1915+105
• The Swift/BAT Hard X-ray Transient Monitor
• Constraining Black Hole Spin Via X-ray Spectroscopy
• X-ray reflected spectra from accretion disk models. III. A complete grid of ionized reflection calculations
• Ubiquitous equatorial accretion disc winds in black hole soft states
• BlackCAT: A catalogue of stellar-mass black holes in X-ray transients
• Relativistic X-ray Lines from the Inner Accretion Disks Around Black Holes
• Irradiation of an Accretion Disc by a Jet: General Properties and Implications for Spin Measurements of Black Holes
• The role of the reflection fraction in constraining black hole spin
• WATCHDOG: A Comprehensive All-Sky Database of Galactic Black Hole X-ray Binaries
• Unification of X-ray winds in Seyfert galaxies: from ultra-fast outflows to warm absorbers
• Broad emission lines for negatively spinning black holes
• An unstable central disk in the superluminal black-hole X-ray binary GRS 1915+105
• Spectral Transitions in Cyg X-1 and Other Black Hole X-Ray Binaries
• A Simple Comptonization Model
• The corona contracts in a black-hole transient
• Black hole feedback in the luminous quasar PDS 456
• On the interpretation of the multicolour disc model for black hole candidates
• Understanding X-ray reflection emissivity profiles in AGN: Locating the X-ray source
• The lack of variability of the iron line in MCG-6-30-15: general relativistic effects
• Normalizing a Relativistic Model of X-ray Reflection: The Definition of the Reflection Fraction and its Implementation in relxill
• Relativistic Lines and Reflection from the Inner Accretion Disks Around Neutron Stars
• The variable radio emission from GRS 1915+105
• Transient Black Hole Binaries
• Simultaneous Chandra and RXTE Spectroscopy of the Microquasar H~1743-322: Clues to Disk Wind and Jet Formation from a Variable Ionized Outflow
• 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
• Where is the Inner Edge of an Accretion Disk Around a Black Hole?
• X-ray irradiation in XTE J1817-330 and the inner radius of the truncated disc in the hard state
• The Reflection Component from Cygnus X-1 in the Soft State Measured by NuSTAR and Suzaku
• The Nature of X-ray Bright Optically Normal Galaxies
• Alternative explanations for extreme supersolar iron abundances inferred from the energy spectrum of Cygnus X-1
• NuSTAR and Suzaku observations of the hard state in Cygnus X-1: locating the inner accretion disk
• X-ray reflection in accreting stellar-mass black hole systems
• Accretion disc atmospheres and winds in low-mass X-ray binaries
• The Relativistic Fe Emission Line in XTE J1650-500 with BeppoSAX: Evidence for Black Hole Spin and Light Bending Effects?
• NuSTAR and Swift observations of the very high state in GX 339-4: Weighing the black hole with X-rays
• Truncation of the Inner Accretion Disk around a Black Hole at Low Luminosity
• The Soft State of Cygnus X-1 Observed with NuSTAR: A Variable Corona and a Stable Inner Disk
• Spectral and Timing Evolution of the Black Hole X-ray Nova 4U 1543-47 During its 2002 Outburst
• An optically thick inner corona geometry for the Very High State Galactic Black Hole XTE J1550-564
• An Extreme X-ray Disk Wind in the Black Hole Candidate IGR J17091-3624
• The variable X-ray spectrum of Markarian 766 - I. Principal components analysis
• The complex accretion geometry of GX 339-4 as seen by NuSTAR and Swift
• MAXI J1820+070 with NuSTAR I. An increase in variability frequency but a stable reflection spectrum: coronal properties and implications for the inner disc in black hole binaries
• Measuring Black Hole Spin via the X-ray Continuum Fitting Method: Beyond the Thermal Dominant State
• Living on a Flare: Relativistic Reflection in V404 Cyg Observed by NuSTAR During its Summer 2015 Outburst
• Spectral Hardening in Black Hole Accretion: Giving Spectral Modelers an f
• Reflection Spectra of the Black Hole Binary Candidate MAXI J1535-571 in the Hard State Observed by NuSTAR
• A Hard Look at the Neutron Stars and Accretion Disks in 4U 1636-53, GX 17+2, and 4U 1705-44 with $\text{NuSTAR}$
• Regulation of Black Hole Winds and Jets Across the Mass Scale
• X-ray and Optical Monitoring of State Transitions in MAXI J1820+070
• A NICER Spectrum of MAXI J1535-571: Near-Maximal Black Hole Spin and Potential Disk Warping
• New Constraints on the Black Hole Low/Hard State Inner Accretion Flow with NuSTAR
• NuSTAR Observations of the Accreting Atolls GX 3+1, 4U 1702-429, 4U 0614+091, and 4U 1746-371
• Testing slim-disk models on the thermal spectra of LMC X-3
• The Similarity of Broad Iron Lines in X-ray Binaries and Active Galactic Nuclei
• Suzaku Observation of GRS 1915+105: Evolution of Accretion Disc Structure during Limit-Cycle Oscillation
• The black hole binary V404 Cygni: an obscured AGN analogue
• Iron-line and continuum flux variations in the RXTE spectra of the black-hole candidate XTE J1650-500
• XMM-Newton observations reveal the disappearance of the wind in 4U 1630-47
• Accretion disk and ionized absorber of the 9.7-hour dipping black hole binary MAXI J1305-704
• The 2017 Failed Outburst of GX 339-4: Relativistic X-ray Reflection near the Black Hole Revealed by NuSTAR and Swift Spectroscopy
• Spectral hardening as a viable alternative to disc truncation in black hole state transitions
• Evidence of Light-Bending Effects and its implication for spectral state transitions
• The truncated disk from Suzaku data of GX 339-4 in the extreme very high state
• Principal Component Analysis of MCG--6-30-15 with XMM-Newton
• Shakura-Sunyaev Disk Can Smoothly Match Advection-Dominated Accretion Flow
• The view of AGN-host alignment via reflection spectroscopy
• Stronger Reflection from Black Hole Accretion Disks in Soft X-ray States
• The Hard State of the Highly Absorbed High Inclination Black Hole Binary Candidate Swift J1658.2-4242 Observed by NuSTAR and Swift
• Discovery and state transitions of the new Galactic black hole candidate MAXI J1535-571
• Spectral and Timing Properties of IGR J17091-3624 in the Rising Hard State During its 2016 Outburst
• Re-examining the XMM-Newton Spectrum of the Black Hole Candidate XTE J1652-453
• Evolution of MAXI J1631-479 during the January 2019 outburst observed by INTEGRAL/IBIS

Cited by in corpus (21)

• Towards precision measurements of accreting black holes using X-ray reflection spectroscopy
• A Systematic View of Ten New Black Hole Spins
• The NICER "Reverberation Machine": A Systematic Study of Time Lags in Black Hole X-Ray Binaries
• Testing General Relativity with NuSTAR data of Galactic Black Holes
• A New Spin on an Old Black Hole: NuSTAR Spectroscopy of EXO 1846-031
• Systematically Revisiting All NuSTAR Spins of Black Holes in X-Ray Binaries
• A variable ionized disk wind in the black-hole candidate EXO 1846-031
• NuSTAR monitoring of MAXI J1348-630: evidence of high density disc reflection
• Analysis of the reflection spectra of MAXI J1535-571 in the hard and intermediate states
• Spectral and timing evolution of MAXI J1631-479 during the 2018-19 outburst with NICER
• Revisiting the galactic X-ray binary MAXI J1631-479: Implications for high inclination and a massive black hole
• Accretion Properties and Estimation of Spin of Galactic Black Hole Candidate Swift J1728.9-3613 with NuSTAR during its 2019 outburst
• Accretion disc winds in X-ray binaries
• Broadband X-ray Spectroscopy and Estimation of Spin of the Galactic Black Hole Candidate GRS 1758-258
• Emission lines from X-ray illuminated accretion disc in black hole binaries
• Accretion Geometry of Black Hole X-ray Binaries: Insights from X-ray Observations
• The width-flux relation of the broad iron line during the state transition of the black hole X-ray binaries
• Galactic Electron-Positron Annihilation Emission from X-Ray Binaries with Transient and Persistent Jets
• Broadband variability study of MAXI J1631-479 in its Hard-Intermediate State observed with Insight-HXMT
• Broad-band spectral study of LMXB black hole candidate 4U 1957+11 with NuSTAR
• The Spin and Orientation of the Black Hole in XTE J1908$+$094