We made use high-cadence observations from the Insight-HXMT and NICER to scrutinize the spectral and timing evolution during the 2018 outburst of the black hole X-ray binary (BHXRB) MAXI J1820+070. It's hardness-intensity diagram (HID) displays a ``q''-like track including all the spectral states, along a unique loop in the hard state. The tracks observed in the HID is anticipated in the evolution of the components responsible for Compton and reflection emission. This is substantiated by the relationship between the X-ray luminosity LX and photon index Γ which exhibits a pattern reminiscent of HID. The distinctive evolution of the reflection component leads to the unique loop in the HID (also in the LX--Γ plane) of hard state. Additionally, we found a negative correlation between frequency of the type-C quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) (νC,QPO) and the optical depth of the Compton emission (τ), and a positive correlation between νC,QPO and Γ. These correlations strongly suggest a coupling between the QPO properties and the underlying process responsible for Comptonization. We also found that the last detection of type-C QPO coincide with the transient jet ejection within a timescale of one hour.
@article{arxiv.2407.08421,
title = {X-ray spectral and timing evolution during the 2018 outburst of MAXI J1820+070},
author = {YaXing Li and Zhen Yan and ChenXu Gao and Wenfei Yu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.08421},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
18 pages, 15 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS