A detailed study of the 5 Hz quasi-periodic oscillations in the bright X-ray transient and black-hole candidate GRS 1739-278

Abstract

We present a detailed study of the 5 Hz quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) recently discovered in the bright X-ray transient and black-hole candidate GRS 1739-278 (Borozdin & Trudolyubov 2000) during a Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observation taken on 1996 March 31. In total 6.6 ksec of on-source data were obtained, divided in two data sets of 3.4 and 3.2 ksec which were separated by 2.6 ksec. The 5 Hz QPO was only present during the second data set. The QPO increased in strength from below 2% rms amplitude for photon energies below 4 keV to ~5% rms amplitude for energies above 10 keV. The soft QPO photons (below 5 keV) lagged the hard ones (above 10 keV) by almost 1.5 radian. Besides the QPO fundamental, its first overtone was detected. The strength of the overtone increased with photon energy (from <2% rms below 5 keV to ~8% rms above 10 keV). Although the limited statistics did not allow for an accurate determination of the lags of the first overtone, indications are that also for this QPO the soft photons lagged the hard ones. When the 5 Hz QPO was not detected (i.e., during the first part of the observation), a broad noise component was found for photon energies below 10 keV but it became almost a true QPO (with a Q value of ~1.9) above that energy, with a frequency of ~3 Hz. Its hard photons preceded the soft ones in a way reminiscent of the 5 Hz QPO, strongly suggesting that both features are physically related. We discuss our finding in the frame work of low-frequency QPOs and their properties in BHCs.

Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 2 August 2001

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• New Constraints on the Black Hole Low/Hard State Inner Accretion Flow with NuSTAR
• NICER uncovers the transient nature of the type-B quasi-periodic oscillation in the black hole candidate MAXI J1348-630
• Detection of X-ray spectral state transitions in mini-outbursts of black hole transient GRS 1739-278
• 4U 1957+11: a persistent low-mass X-ray binary and black-hole candidate in the high state?
• Fast transition of type-B QPO in the black hole transient XTE J1817-330
• State Transitions of GRS 1739$-$278 in the 2014 Outburst
• Studying temporal variability of GRS1739-278 during the 2014 outburst