The effect of advection at luminosities close to Eddington: The ULX in M 31

Straub, O.; Done, Chris; Middleton, Matthew

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321324

Cited by 19 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…This is not the spectrum that would be expected from an accretion flow radiating at ∼Eddington, which should be dominated by emission from a multi-color blackbody accretion disk, modified slightly by the effects of photon advection (e.g. Middleton et al 2012Middleton et al , 2013Straub et al 2013). In addition, spectra this hard (particularly in the Γ ∼ 1.1 case) are difficult to produce via Compton scattering of thermal disk photons in a standard accretion disk corona.…”

Section: Jet Activitymentioning

confidence: 88%

Living on a Flare: Relativistic Reflection in V404 Cyg Observed by NuSTAR during Its Summer 2015 Outburst

Walton

Mooley

King

et al. 2017

ApJ

100

119

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We present first results from a series of NuSTAR observations of the black hole X-ray binary404 obtained during its summer 2015 outburst, primarily focusing on observations during the height of this outburst activity. The NuSTAR data show extreme variability in both the flux and spectral properties of the source. This is partly driven by strong and variable line-of-sight absorption, similar to previous outbursts. The latter stages of this observation are dominated by strong flares, reaching luminosities close to Eddington. During these flares, the central source appears to be relatively unobscured and the data show clear evidence for a strong contribution from relativistic reflection, providing a means to probe the geometry of the innermost accretion flow. Based on the flare properties, analogy with other Galactic black hole binaries, and also the simultaneous onset of radio activity, we argue that this intense X-ray flaring is related to transient jet activity during which the ejected plasma is the primary source of illumination for the accretion disk. If this is the case, then our reflection modelling implies that these jets are launched in close proximity to the black hole (as close as a few gravitational radii), consistent with expectations for jet launching models that tap either the spin of the central black hole, or the very innermost accretion disk. Our analysis also allows us to place the first constraints on the black hole spin for this source, which we find to be a * > 0.92 (99% statistical uncertainty, based on an idealized lamppost geometry).

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Section: Jet Activitymentioning

confidence: 88%

Living on a Flare: Relativistic Reflection in V404 Cyg Observed by NuSTAR during Its Summer 2015 Outburst

Walton

Mooley

King

et al. 2017

ApJ

100

119

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“…other ULXs in the past (Mizuno et al 2007;Middleton et al 2011b;Straub et al 2013). The deviation of p from 0.5 in the brightest observation might imply some reprocessing of the disk emission, for example by a corona.…”

Section: Ngc 1313 X-2mentioning

confidence: 92%

THE ULTRALUMINOUS X-RAY SOURCES NGC 1313 X-1 AND X-2: A BROADBAND STUDY WITHNuSTARANDXMM-Newton

Bachetti

Rana

Walton

et al. 2013

ApJ

197

227

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We present the results of NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of the two ultraluminous X-ray sources: NGC 1313 X-1 and X-2. The combined spectral bandpass of the two satellites enables us to produce the first spectrum of X-1 between 0.3 and 30 keV, while X-2 is not significantly detected by NuSTAR above 10 keV. The NuSTAR data demonstrate that X-1 has a clear cutoff above 10 keV, whose presence was only marginally detectable with previous X-ray observations. This cutoff rules out the interpretation of X-1 as a black hole in a standard low/hard state, and it is deeper than predicted for the downturn of a broadened iron line in a reflection-dominated regime. The cutoff differs from the prediction of a single-temperature Comptonization model. Further, a cold disklike blackbody component at ∼0.3 keV is required by the data, confirming previous measurements by XMM-Newton only. We observe a spectral transition in X-2, from a state with high luminosity and strong variability to a lowerluminosity state with no detectable variability, and we link this behavior to a transition from a super-Eddington to a sub-Eddington regime.

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“…As discussed in McClintock et al (2006), above ∼30% of the Eddington limit, the spectra may deviate from that expected from a simple thin disc possibly due to the creation of an inner, optically thick, radiation pressure dominated corona/slim disc due to the high mass accretion rates (Abramowicz et al 1988; Ueda et al 2009;Middleton et al 2012;2013) or a region supported by magnetic pressure (Straub, Done & Middleton 2013). It is assumed that either disc truncation or simply a cooling of the disc photons by the corona leads to a lower disc temperature than should be expected from the innermost edge of the disc and a deviation away from the expected L ∝ T 4 relation ).…”

Section: Continuum Fittingmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…This model once again does not account for mass loss in a wind but accounts for three key components in high mass accretion rate ADAFs, the radial advection of heat and subsequent change in the emissivity, the position of the inner edge (which can move from the marginally stable to marginally bound orbit: Abramowicz et al 1988) and the location of the effective photosphere. A later version of this code, SLIMBH (Straub, Done & Middleton 2013), incorporates the TLUSTY stellar atmosphere code directly and so is closer in nature to BHSPEC. Unlike the case for high mass accretion rate ADAFs, the emission from low accretion rate ADAF/RIAFs may arise from synchrotron cooling in radiatively inefficient jets (Fender, There is also a more fundamental assumption that goes into models that derive from the Novikov & Thorne (1973) prescription: real accretion discs will have a finite thickness and will not behave as if razor thin. Paczyński (2000) and Afshordi & Paczyński (2003) argue for a monotonically decreasing deviation with decreasing scale-height for small α.…”

Section: Beyond the Simple Picturementioning

confidence: 99%

Black Hole Spin: Theory and Observation

Middleton¹

2016

Astrophysics and Space Science Library

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In the standard paradigm, astrophysical black holes can be described solely by their mass and angular momentum -commonly referred to as 'spin' -resulting from the process of their birth and subsequent growth via accretion. Whilst the mass has a standard Newtonian interpretation, the spin does not, with the effect of non-zero spin leaving an indelible imprint on the space-time closest to the black hole. As a consequence of relativistic frame-dragging, particle orbits are affected both in terms of stability and precession, which impacts on the emission characteristics of accreting black holes both stellar mass in black hole binaries (BHBs) and supermassive in active galactic nuclei (AGN). Over the last 30 years, techniques have been developed that take into account these changes to estimate the spin which can then be used to understand the birth and growth of black holes and potentially the powering of powerful jets. In this chapter we provide a broad overview of both the theoretical effects of spin, the means by which it can be estimated and the results of ongoing campaigns.

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The effect of advection at luminosities close to Eddington: The ULX in M 31

Cited by 19 publications

References 31 publications

Living on a Flare: Relativistic Reflection in V404 Cyg Observed by NuSTAR during Its Summer 2015 Outburst

Living on a Flare: Relativistic Reflection in V404 Cyg Observed by NuSTAR during Its Summer 2015 Outburst

THE ULTRALUMINOUS X-RAY SOURCES NGC 1313 X-1 AND X-2: A BROADBAND STUDY WITHNuSTARANDXMM-Newton

Black Hole Spin: Theory and Observation

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