We study the high-energy emission of the Galactic black hole candidate GX 339−4 using INTEGRAL/SPI and simultaneous RXTE/PCA data. By the end of 2007 January, when it reached its peak luminosity in hard X-rays, the source was in a bright hard state. The SPectrometer on INTEGRAL (SPI) data from this period show a good signal-to-noise ratio, allowing a detailed study of the spectral energy distribution up to several hundred keV. As a main result, we report on the detection of a variable hard spectral feature ( 150 keV) which represents a significant excess with respect to the cutoff power-law shape of the spectrum. The SPI data suggest that the intensity of this feature is positively correlated with the 25-50 keV luminosity of the source and the associated variability timescale is shorter than 7 hr. The simultaneous Proportional Counter Array data, however, show no significant change in the spectral shape, indicating that the source is not undergoing a canonical state transition. We analyzed the broadband spectra in the lights of several physical models, assuming different heating mechanisms and properties of the Comptonizing plasma. For the first time, we performed quantitative model fitting with the new versatile Comptonization code belm, accounting self-consistently for the presence of a magnetic field. We show that a magnetized medium subject to pure non-thermal electron acceleration provides a framework for a physically consistent interpretation of the observed 4-500 keV emission. Moreover, we find that the spectral variability might be triggered by the variations of only one physical parameter, namely the magnetic field strength. Therefore, it appears that the magnetic field is likely to be a key parameter in the production of the Comptonized hard X-ray emission.

We analyse in detail the X-ray data of the microquasar Cygnus X-3 obtained during major radio flaring episodes in 2006 with multiple observatories. The analysis consists of two parts: probing the fast (∼ 1 minute) X-ray spectral evolution with Principal Component Analysis followed by subsequent spectral fits to the time-averaged spectra (∼ 3 ks). Based on the analysis we find that the overall X-ray variability during major flaring episodes can be attributed to two principal components whose evolution based on spectral fits is best reproduced by a hybrid Comptonization component and a bremsstrahlung or saturated thermal Comptonization component. The variability of the thermal component is found to be linked to the change in the X-ray/radio spectral state. In addition, we find that the seed photons for the Comptonization originate in two seed photon populations that include the additional thermal emission and emission from the accretion disc. The Comptonization of the photons from the thermal component dominates, at least during the major radio flare episode in question, and the Comptonization of disc photons is intermittent and can be attributed to the phase interval 0.2-0.4. The most likely location for Comptonization is in the shocks in the jet.

Abstract. Simultaneous multi-wavelength observations are crucial for understanding the physics of microquasars, especially the accretion disk/jet connection. The enigmatic microquasar Cygnus X-3 exhibits strong, relativistic jet ejection events producing radio flares up to 20 Jy. These events are preceded by a very soft X-ray state with quenched emission in the radio and hard X-ray bands. Recently, GeV flux was observed by the AGILE and Fermi γ-ray observatories during the newly-identified hypersoft state. By using an extensive database of simultaneous multi-wavelength observations gathered from Cygnus X-3 we can form a more unified picture of the nature of the source and show how the recent γ-ray observations fit into it.