A Unified Lense-Thirring Precession Model for Optical and X-Ray Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Black Hole Binaries

Veledina, Alexandra; Poutanen, Juri; Ingram, Adam

doi:10.1088/0004-637x/778/2/165

Cited by 73 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…This way, the inner flow is being fed by a misaligned disc, driving precession. Defining the angle between the disc and BH axes as β, the angle between the BH and flow axes is also β and the angle between the inner flow and the disc varies over a precession cycle from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 2β (see schematics in Veledina, Poutanen &Ingram 2013 and). This misalignment introduces a level of asymmetry not captured by our simple parameterisation of the disc illumination profile, since in our parameterisation the disc illumination profile is asymmetric throughout the precession cycle.…”

Section: Misalignmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The observed flux as a function of precession angle is then a balance between these three considerations. Doppler boosting is most important at small radii due to the higher rotational velocity, and solid angle effects are most important for large radii since light bending tends to wash out solid angle variations close to the BH Veledina, Poutanen & Ingram 2013).…”

Section: Continuum Fluxmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tomographic reflection modelling of quasi-periodic oscillations in the black hole binary H 1743−322

Ingram

Klis

Middleton

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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Accreting stellar mass black holes (BHs) routinely exhibit Type-C quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs). These are often interpreted as Lense-Thirring precession of the inner accretion flow, a relativistic effect whereby the spin of the BH distorts the surrounding space-time, inducing nodal precession. The best evidence for the precession model is the recent discovery, using a long joint XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observation of H 1743-322, that the centroid energy of the iron fluorescence line changes systematically with QPO phase. This was interpreted as the inner flow illuminating different azimuths of the accretion disc as it precesses, giving rise to a blue/red shifted iron line when the approaching/receding disc material is illuminated. Here, we develop a physical model for this interpretation, including a self-consistent reflection continuum, and fit this to the same H 1743-322 data. We use an analytic function to parameterise the asymmetric illumination pattern on the disc surface that would result from inner flow precession, and find that the data are well described if two bright patches rotate about the disc surface. This model is preferred to alternatives considering an oscillating disc ionisation parameter, disc inner radius and radial emissivity profile. We find that the reflection fraction varies with QPO phase (3.5σ), adding to the now formidable body of evidence that Type-C QPOs are a geometric effect. This is the first example of tomographic QPO modelling, initiating a powerful new technique that utilizes QPOs in order to map the dynamics of accreting material close to the BH.

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Section: Misalignmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Continuum Fluxmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tomographic reflection modelling of quasi-periodic oscillations in the black hole binary H 1743−322

Ingram

Klis

Middleton

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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“…In yet another approach, Cabanac et al (2010) consider a magneto-acoustic wave propagating in the corona while O'Neill et al (2011) present magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of blackhole accretion flow exhibiting a dynamo cycle with a characteristic time that coincides with LFQPOs. While several models have links with emission outside the X-ray band, for example in the case of the AEI , the most developed model at the moment is the one by Veledina et al (2013Veledina et al ( , 2015, which explains this mul-tiwavelength phenomena by elaborating on the precessing hot flow model of Ingram et al (2009). It is worth noting that their curve of rms as a function of the inclination of the system is quite different from the one presented here, and observation might be able to distinguish between them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of inclination on quasi-periodic oscillations from spiral structures

Vincent

2016

A&A

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Context. Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are a common feature of the power spectrum of X-ray binaries. Currently it is not possible to unambiguously differentiate the large number of proposed models to explain these phenomena through existing observations. Aims. We investigate the observable predictions of a simple model that generates flux modulation: a spiral instability rotating in a thin accretion disk. This model is motivated by the accretion ejection instability (AEI) model for low-frequency QPOs (LFQPOs). We are particularly interested in the inclination dependence of the observables that are associated with this model. Methods. We develop a simple analytical model of an accretion disk, which features a spiral instability. The disk is assumed to emit blackbody radiation, which is ray-traced to a distant observer. We compute pulse profiles and power spectra as observed from infinity. Results. We show that the amplitude of the modulation associated with the spiral rotation is a strong function of inclination and frequency. The pulse profile is quasi-sinusoidal only at low inclination (face-on source). As a consequence, a higher-inclination geometry leads to a stronger and more diverse harmonic signature in the power spectrum. Conclusions. We present how the amplitude depends on the inclination when the flux modulation comes from a spiral in the disk. We also include new observables that could potentially differentiate between models, such as the pulse profile and the harmonic content of the power spectra of high-inclination sources that exhibit LFQPOs. These might be important observables to explore with existing and new instruments.

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“…Precession of the hot inner flow can produce both a QPO and harmonic (from the angle dependence of Compton scattering and the non-spherical nature of Compton region) so this predicts that these have spectra which are similar to that of the Comptonization component (Ingram, Done & Fragile 2009;Veledina, Poutanen & Ingram 2013). Subtle differences in spectra can be produced by the Compton region being inhomogeneous, and the QPO and harmonic being weighted to different radii (Axelsson et al 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revealing the nature of the QPO and its harmonic in GX 339-4 using frequency-resolved spectroscopy

Axelsson¹,

Done²

2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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We use frequency-resolved spectroscopy to examine the energy spectra of the prominent low frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillation (QPO) and its harmonic in GX 339-4. We track the evolution of these spectra as the source makes a transition from a bright low/hard to hard intermediate state.In the hard/intermediate states, the QPO and time averaged spectra are similar and the harmonic is either undetected or similar to the QPO. By contrast, in the softer states, the harmonic is dramatically softer than the QPO spectrum and the time averaged spectrum, and the QPO spectrum is dramatically harder than the time averaged spectrum. Clearly, the existance of these very different spectral shaped components mean that the time-averaged spectra are complex, as also seen by the fact that the softer spectra cannot be well described by a disc, Comptonisation and its reflection. We use the frequency resolved spectra to better constrain the model components, and find that the data are consistent with a time-averaged spectrum which has an additional low temperature, optically thick Comptonisation component. The harmonic can be described by this additional component alone, while the QPO spectrum is similar to that of the hard Comptonisation and its reflection. Neither QPO nor harmonic show signs of the disc component even when it is strong in the time averaged spectrum. This adds to the growing evidence for inhomogeneous Comptonisation in black hole binaries.While the similarity between the harmonic and QPO spectra in the intermediate state can be produced from the angular dependence of Compton scattering in a single region, this cannot explain the dramatic differences seen in the soft state. Instead, we propose that the soft Compton region is located predominantly above the disc while the hard Compton is from the hotter inner flow. Our results therefore point to multiple possible mechanisms for producing harmonic features in the power spectrum. The dominant mechanism in a given observation is likely a function of both inclination angle and inner disc radius.

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A Unified Lense-Thirring Precession Model for Optical and X-Ray Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Black Hole Binaries

Cited by 73 publications

References 48 publications

Tomographic reflection modelling of quasi-periodic oscillations in the black hole binary H 1743−322

Tomographic reflection modelling of quasi-periodic oscillations in the black hole binary H 1743−322

Impact of inclination on quasi-periodic oscillations from spiral structures

Revealing the nature of the QPO and its harmonic in GX 339-4 using frequency-resolved spectroscopy

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