Relation between Quiescence and Outbursting Properties of GX 339-4

Abstract

Galactic black hole candidate GX 339-4 underwent several outbursting phases in the past two and a half decades at irregular intervals of 2–3 years. The nature of these outbursts in terms of the duration, number of peaks, maximum peak intensity, and so on varies. We present a possible physical reason behind the variation of the outbursts. From a physical point of view, if the supply of matter from the companion is roughly constant, the total energy released in an outburst is expected to be proportional to the quiescent period prior to the outburst when the matter is accumulated. We use archival data of RXTE/ASM from 1996 January to 2011 June and of MAXI/GSC from 2009 August to 2020 July. Five initial outbursts of GX 339-4 between 1997 and 2011 were observed by ASM and showed a good linear relation between the accumulation period and the amount of energy released in each outburst, but the outbursts after 2013 behaved quite differently. The 2013, 2017–2018, and 2018–2019 outbursts were of short duration and incomplete or “failed” in nature. We suggest that the matter accumulated during the quiescent periods prior to these outbursts was not cleared through accretion due to a lack of viscosity. The leftover matter was cleared in the very next outbursts. Our study thus sheds light on long-term accretion dynamics in outbursting sources.

Properties of Faint X-ray Activity of XTE J1908+094 in 2019

“…This faint X-ray activity of XTE J1908+094 in 2019 could be due to the sudden enhancement of viscosity and supply of matter from the pile-up radius. This type of behavior was observed in the case of H1743-322 [2] and GX 339-4 [52]. As the supply of residual matter from the previous outburst (2012-2013) was exhausted, the very short-term X-ray activity was also faded.…”

Properties of Faint X-ray Activity of XTE J1908+094 in 2019

“…This faint X-ray activity of XTE J1908+094 in 2019 could be due to the sudden enhancement of viscosity and supply of matter from the pile-up radius. This type of behavior has been observed in the case of H1743-322 [2] and GX 339-4 [52]. As the supply of residual matter from the previous outburst (2012-2013) was exhausted, the very short-term X-ray activity was also faded.…”

Accretion Flow Properties of MAXI J1910-057/Swift J1910.2-0546 During Its 2012-13 Outburst

“…All these factors signify a change in the accretion flow morphology, possibly due to a smallscale mass transfer instability. In the TCAF picture, accreting matter from the companion gets accumulated at the pile-up radius till sufficient viscosity is reached for the matter to proceed towards the BH causing an outburst (see, Chakrabarti et al 2019;Bhowmick et al 2021). For this scenario under consideration, the small instability increases the viscosity in the disk and the stable configuration of the accretion disk is violated, which is evident from the high values of the reduced χ 2 (∼ 1.8) of TCAF spectral fits in the period.…”