A0620-00 revisited: a black-hole transient case-study

Abstract

For the first time we have performed a detailed study of the X-ray, optical and infra-red light curves of the 1975/1976 outburst of the famous black-hole transient A0620-00 (Nova Mon 1975, V616 Mon). During the various stages of its outburst the X-rays lag the optical by ~5-20 days. Moreover, the activity associated with the secondary maximum started even earlier in the infra-red. This suggests that most of the outburst processes occur in the outer parts of the disk. We also find various drops in the X-ray intensity (lasting ~1 day or more). Near one of these a local maximum in the optical light curve occurs. This maximum appears ~30 days after the secondary maximum, i.e. close to the viscous time scale of an irradiated disk. We suggest this feature to be an `echo' of the secondary maximum. At the end of the outburst a similar local optical maximum occurs, which might be an `echo' of the tertiary maximum. We find that the drops in the optical and X-rays near the tertiary maximum are also present in other SXTs. They always occur ~150 days after the start of the outburst. We find for the first time that the X-ray spectrum of A0620-00 starts to harden ~100-150 days after the start of its outburst, similar to GS2000+25 and GS1124-68. This suggests we witness the transition from the so-called high to low state at that time. We show that the optical outburst light curve of A0620-00 closely resembles that of the cataclysmic variable AL Com. This strengthens the similarity in the properties of the SXTs and TOADs (or WZ Sge stars), and shows that the optical outburst light curves of both groups are governed by the disk properties and not by the compact object. Since irradiation provides a natural mechanism to prolong the outburst of SXTs, we suggest this could be of influence as well during TOAD outbursts.

38 pages, 10 figures, accepted for New Astronomy Reviews

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