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A full spectral-timing model to map the accretion flow in black hole binaries: the low/hard state of MAXI J1820+070

Kawamura, Tenyo; Axelsson, Magnus; Done, Chris; Takahashi, Tadayuki

A full spectral-timing model to map the accretion flow in black hole binaries: the low/hard state of MAXI J1820+070 Thumbnail


Authors

Tenyo Kawamura

Magnus Axelsson

Tadayuki Takahashi



Abstract

The nature and geometry of the accretion flow in the low/hard state of black hole binaries is currently controversial. While most properties are generally explained in the truncated disc/hot inner flow model, the detection of a broad residual around the iron line argues for strong relativistic effects from an untruncated disc. Since spectral fitting alone is somewhat degenerate, we combine it with the additional information in the fast X-ray variability and perform a full spectral-timing analysis for NICER and NuSTAR data on a bright low/hard state of MAXI J1820+070. We model the variability with propagating mass accretion rate fluctuations by combining two separate current insights: that the hot flow is spectrally inhomogeneous, and that there is a discontinuous jump in viscous time-scale between the hot flow and variable disc. Our model naturally gives the double-humped shape of the power spectra, and the increasing high-frequency variability with energy in the second hump. Including reflection and reprocessing from a disc truncated at a few tens of gravitational radii quantitatively reproduces the switch in the lag-frequency spectra, from hard lagging soft at low frequencies (propagation through the variable flow) to the soft lagging hard at the high frequencies (reverberation from the hard X-ray continuum illuminating the disc). The viscous time-scale of the hot flow is derived from the model, and we show how this can be used to observationally test ideas about the origin of the jet.

Citation

Kawamura, T., Axelsson, M., Done, C., & Takahashi, T. (2022). A full spectral-timing model to map the accretion flow in black hole binaries: the low/hard state of MAXI J1820+070. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 511(1), 536-552. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac045

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 1, 2022
Online Publication Date Jan 13, 2022
Publication Date 2022-03
Deposit Date Jun 16, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 511
Issue 1
Pages 536-552
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac045

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. ©: 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





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