An Obscured, Seyfert-2-like State of the Stellar-mass Black Hole GRS 1915+105 Caused by Failed Disk Winds

Abstract

We report on Chandra gratings spectra of the stellar-mass black hole GRS 1915+105 obtained during a novel, highly obscured state. As the source entered this state, a dense, massive accretion disk wind was detected through strong absorption lines. Photionization modeling indicates that it must originate close to the central engine, orders of magnitude from the outer accretion disk. Strong, nearly sinusoidal flux variability in this phase yielded a key insight: the wind is blue-shifted when its column density is relatively low, but red-shifted as it approaches the Compton-thick threshold. At no point does the wind appear to achieve the local escape velocity; in this sense, it is a "failed wind." Later observations suggest that the disk ultimately fails to keep even the central engine clear of gas, leading to heavily obscured and Compton-thick states characterized by very strong Fe K emission lines. Indeed, these later spectra are successfully described using models developed for obscured AGN. We discuss our results in terms the remarkable similarity of GRS 1915+105 deep in its "obscured state" to Seyfert-2 and Compton-thick AGN, and explore how our understanding of accretion and obscuration in massive black holes is impacted by our observations.

Submitted to ApJ

References in corpus (13)

• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• Simultaneous X-ray/optical/UV snapshots of active galactic nuclei from XMM-Newton: spectral energy distributions for the reverberation mapped sample
• 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
• Swift observations of V404 Cyg during the 2015 outburst: X-ray outflows from super-Eddington accretion
• Disk-Wind Connection During the Heartbeats of GRS 1915+105
• Chandra/HETGS Observations of the Capella System: the Primary as a Dominating X-ray Source
• A hard look at local, optically-selected, obscured Seyfert galaxies
• A Comprehensive Chandra Study of the Disk Wind in the Black Hole Candidate 4U 1630-472
• The slow heartbeats of an ultra-luminous X-ray source in NGC 3621
• A hard look at NGC 5347: revealing a nearby Compton-thick AGN
• Chandra Reveals Heavy Obscuration and Circumnuclear Star Formation in Seyfert 2 Galaxy NGC 4968
• On the wind-driven relaxation cycle in accretion disks

Cited by in corpus (28)

• Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• Observations of a radio-bright, X-ray obscured GRS 1915+105
• Black Hole Spin in X-ray Binaries: Giving Uncertainties an $f$
• The INTEGRAL view on Black Hole X-ray Binaries
• The Novel Obscured State of Stellar-mass Black Hole GRS 1915+105
• The current state of disk wind observations in BHLMXBs through X-ray absorption lines in the iron band
• Unraveling the foretime of GRS 1915+105 using AstroSat observations: Wide-band spectral and temporal characteristics
• ALMA/NICER observations of GRS 1915+105 indicate a return to a hard state
• Sub-second periodic radio oscillations in a microquasar
• StrayCats: A catalog of NuSTAR Stray Light Observations
• The Inner Accretion Flow in the Resurgent Seyfert-1.2 AGN Mrk 817
• Comprehensive coverage of particle acceleration and kinetic feedback from the stellar mass black hole V404 Cygni
• The large-scale magnetic field advected in the corona of a thin accretion disk
• Variable mass accretion and failed wind explain changing look phenomena in NGC 1365
• The evolution of the high-frequency variability in the black hole candidate GRS 1915+105 as seen by RXTE
• Mapping the X-ray variability of GRS1915+105 with machine learning
• Stratified wind from a super-Eddington X-ray binary is slower than expected
• The dynamical structure of the outflows driven by a large-scale magnetic field
• X-ray supernova remnants in the starburst region of M82
• A Spectroscopic Angle on Central Engine Size Scales in Accreting Neutron Stars
• Accretion disc winds in X-ray binaries
• Time resolved spectroscopy of a GRS 1915+105 flare during its unusual low state using AstroSat
• Accretion tori around rotating neutron stars I: Structure, shape and size
• Optical and X-ray Follow-Up to a Globular Cluster Ultraluminous X-ray Source in NGC 4472
• Likely detection of magnetic field related LFQPO in the soft X-ray re-brightening of GRS~1915+105
• A large misalignment between continuous jet and discrete ejecta in microquasar GRS 1915+105 during its obscured phase
• Dimming GRS 1915+105 observed with NICER and Insight--HXMT
• Exploring the accretion-ejection geometry of GRS 1915+105 in the obscured state with future X-ray spectro-polarimetry