English

A transient low-frequency QPO from the black hole binary GRS 1915+105

Astrophysics 2009-11-13 v1

Abstract

We present the results of the timing analysis of five Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observations of the Black Hole Candidate GRS 1915+105 between 1996 September and 1997 December. The aim was to investigate the possible presence of a type-B quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO). Since in other systems this QPO is found to appear during spectral transitions from Hard to Soft states, we analyzed observations characterized by a fast and strong variability, in order to have a large number of transitions. In GRS 1915+105, transitions occur on very short time scales (~ sec): to single them out we averaged Power Density Spectra following the regular path covered by the source on a 3D Hardness-Hardness-Intensity Diagram. We identified both the type-C and the type-B quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs): this is the first detection of a type-B QPO in GRS 1915+105. As the spectral transitions have been associated to the emission and collimation of relativistic radio-jets, their presence in the prototypical galactic jet source strengthens this connection.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0710.3030,
  title  = {A transient low-frequency QPO from the black hole binary GRS 1915+105},
  author = {Paolo Soleri and Tomaso Belloni and Piergiorgio Casella},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0710.3030},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication on MNRAS

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