From X-Ray binaries to quasars: Black holes on all mass scales

276 Pages·2006·4.097 MB·English

by  Thomas J. Maccarone, Robert P. Fender, Luis C. Ho

ASTROPHYSICS AND SPACE SCIENCE
FromX-RayBinariestoQuasars:BlackHolesonallMassScales
FROM X-RAY BINARIES TO QUASARS:
BLACK HOLES ON ALL MASS SCALES
Editedby:
T.J.MACCARONE,R.P.FENDERandL.C.HO
ReprintedfromAstrophysicsandSpaceScience
Volume300,Nos.1–3,2005
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TABLEOFCONTENTS
R.FENDER,T.BELLONIandE.GALLO/AUnifiedModelforBlackHole
X-RayBinaryJets? 1–13
S. HEINZ, A. MERLONI, T. DI MATTEO and R. SUNYAEV / On the
RelationshipBetweentheJetsfromX-RayBinariesandAGN 15–21
A.CELOTTI/ATransitionintheAccretionPropertiesofAGN 23–30
J. MALZAC, A. MERLONI and A.C. FABIAN / Jet-Disc Coupling in the
AccretingBlackHoleXTEJ1118+480 31–38
A.P.MARSCHER/Are3C120andOtherActiveGalacticNucleiOverweight
Microquasars? 39–44
A. MERLONI, S. HEINZ and T. DI MATTEO / A Fundamental Plane of
BlackHoleActivity:PushingForwardtheUnificationScheme 45–53
D.L.MEIER/MagneticallyDominatedAccretionFlows(MDAFS)andJet
ProductionintheLowhardState 55–65
J.C.LEE/BlackHoleSystemsSeenatHighSpectralResolution:Inflowand
Outflow 67–70
C.S.REYNOLDS,L.W.BRENNEMANandD.GAROFALO/BlackHole
SpininAGNandGBHCs 71–79
R.L.C. STARLING, M.J. PAGE, G. BRANDUARDI-RAYMONT, A.A.
BREEVELD,R.SORIAandK.WU/TheSeyfert-LinerGalaxyNGC
7213:AnXMM-NewtonObservation 81–86
K.BECKWITHandC.DONE/ObservationalEffectsofStrongGravity 87–96
A.C.FABIAN/BroadIronLinesinAGNandX-RayBinaries 97–105
J.HOMANandT.BELLONI/TheEvolutionofBlackHoleStates 107–117
S.VAUGHAN,A.C.FABIANandK.IWASAWA/RapidX-RayVariability
ofSeyfert1Galaxies 119–125
M.A.ABRAMOWICZandW.KLUZ´NIAK/EpicyclicFrequenciesDerived
fromtheEffectivePotential:SimpleandPracticalFormulae 127–136
K.M.LEIGHLY/X-RayPeriodicityinAGN 137–142
W. KLUZ´NIAK and M.A. ABRAMOWICZ / Resonant Oscillations of
AccretionFlowandkHzQPOS 143–148
M. VAN DER KLIS / Comparing Black Hole and Neutron Star
Variability 149–157
M.NOWAK/X-RayandRadioMonitoringofGX339-4andCYGX-1 159–166
C.DONEandM.GIERLIN´SKI/AccretioninStrongGravity:FromGalactic
toSupermassiveBlackHoles 167–175
R. NARAYAN / Low-Luminosity Accretion in Black Hole X-Ray Binaries
andActiveGalacticNuclei 177–188
S.MARKOFF/ExploringtheJet/AccretionFlowRelationshipinLowDisk
LuminositySources 189–195
S. MIGLIARI and R. FENDER / What Can We Learn from Neutron Star
X-RayBinaries’Jets? 197–209
E. KO¨RDING and H. FALCKE / A Unifying Scheme for Low-Luminosity
XRBsandAGN 211–217
L.C.HO/“Low-State”BlackHoleAccretioninNearbyGalaxies 219–225
J.M.MILLER/PresentEvidenceforIntermediateMassBlackHolesinULXs
andFutureProspects 227–238
T.J. MACCARONE, R.P. FENDER and A.K. TZIOUMIS / Finding Faint
Intermediate-MassBlackHolesintheRadioBand 239–245
S.F.PORTEGIESZWART,J.DEWIandT.MACCARONE/Formationand
EvolutionofIntermediateMassBlackHoleX-RayBinaries 247–253
F. AHARONIAN and A. NERONOV / TeV Gamma Rays from the Galac-
tic Center Direct and Indirect Links to the Massive Black Hole in
SgrA 255–265
J.M. PAREDES / AGNs and Microquasars as High-Energy γ-Ray
Sources 267–274
S.CORBEL/LargeScaleJetsinMicroquasars 275–281
C.R. KAISER, J.L. SOKOLOSKI, K.F. GUNN and C. BROCKSOPP / Is
GRS1915+105aMicroquasar? 283–288
AUNIFIEDMODELFORBLACKHOLEX-RAYBINARYJETS?
ROBFENDER1,TOMASOBELLONI2andELENAGALLO3
1SchoolofPhysics&Astronomy,UniversityofSouthampton,SO171BJ,UK;
E-mail:[email protected]
2INAF—OsservatorioAstronomicodiBrera,ViaE.Bianchi46,I-23807Merate,Italy
3AstronomicalInstitute‘AntonPannekoek’,UniversityofAmsterdam,Kruislaan403,
1098SJAmsterdam,TheNetherlands
(Received8April2005;accepted1June2005)
Abstract.Wehaverecentlyputforwarda‘unified’semi-empiricalmodelforthecouplingbetween
accretionandjetproductioningalacticblackholeX-raybinaries.Inthispaper,wesummarisethis
modelandbrieflydiscussrelevantconsiderationsthathavearisensinceitspublication.
Keywords:accretion,blackholephysics,ISM:jetsandoutflows
1. Introduction
Relativisticjetsareafundamentalaspectofaccretionontoblackholesonallscales.
Theycancarryawayalargefractionoftheavailableaccretionpowerincollimated
flows which later energise particles in the ambient medium. The removal of this
accretionpowerandangularmomentummusthaveadramaticeffectontheoverall
processofaccretion.Intheirmostspectacularformtheyareassociatedwithsuper-
massive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGN), and with gamma-ray bursts
(GRBs), the most powerful and explosive engines in the Universe, respectively.
However,parallelprocesses,observableonhumanlyaccessibletimescales,areoc-
curringintheaccretionontoblackholesandneutronstarsinbinarysystemswithin
ourowngalaxy.
We (Fender et al., 2004; hereafter FBG04) have recently published a ‘unified’
model for the ‘disc–jet’ coupling in galactic black hole binaries. In the next few
pagesweshallquicklysummarisethismodel.
2. TheModel
Inourmodel,weattempttopindownasaccuratelyaspossiblethemomentatwhich
the major radio outburst occurred and relate this to the X-ray state at the time.
We subsequently compare this with the X-ray state corresponding to the lower-
luminosity steady jets, to the evolution of transient outbursts, and to the velocity
AstrophysicsandSpaceScience300:1–13,2005.
DOI:10.1007/s10509-005-1201-z (cid:1)C Springer2005
2 R.FENDERETAL.
andpowerassociatedwitheach‘type’ofjet,inordertodrawupaframeworkfor
aunifiedmodelofblackholeX-raybinaryjetproduction.
Severalblackholesystemsareinvestigatedinthispaper,andinadditionwecom-
parethesewiththeneutronstarsystemsCirX-1andScoX-1.Thedatarelatingto
theradioflares,jetLorentzfactors(ifmeasured),correspondingX-rayluminosities,
estimateddistancesandmasses,aresummarisedinTableI ofFBG04.InFBG04,
we focus in particular on the spectral evolution of four black hole binaries, GRS
1915+105,GX339-4,XTEJ1859+226andXTEJ1550-564.Precisedetailsofthe
X-raydataanalysisarepresentedinFBG04.Figure1presentstheX-ray(fluxand
hardness) and radio flux of these four systems around periods of state transitions.
Severalkeyfeaturesareapparentfromcarefulinspectionofthisfigure,inparticular,
theopticallythinradiooutburstsoccuraroundthetransitionfrom‘hardVHS(very
highstate)/IS(intermediatestate)’to‘softVHS/IS’states,andnotatthetransitions
toorfromthecanonicallow/hardorhigh/softstates.
3. JetsasaFunctionofX-RayState:NewPerspectives
Basedupontheinvestigationwehaveperformed,wearebetterabletoassociatethe
characteristics of the radio emission as a function of X-ray state, and therefore to
probethedetailsofthejet–disccoupling.Whilethepreviouslyestablishedpattern
of
• LS(lowstate):steadyjet
• HS(highstate):nojet
remainsvalid,additionalinformationhasclearlycometolightaboutthedetailsof
jetformationintheVHS/ISduringtransientoutbursts.
3.1. BEHAVIOUR OF THE JET IN THE ‘HARD VHS/IS’
Itwaspreviouslyestablishedthatthecanonicallow/hardstatewasassociatedwith
a steady jet, the emission from which followed a ‘universal’ correlation in the
L :L plane(e.g.Fender,2001;Corbeletal.,2003;Galloetal.,2003).Further-
X radio
more the canonical ‘high/soft’ state was associated with a dramatic reduction in
theradioemission(Tanabaumetal.,1972;Fenderetal.,1999;Galloetal.,2003).
The study presented in FBG04 has further revealed that almost until the point of
the major ejection, after the spectrum has started softening (in the ‘hard VHS/IS’
state)thesteadyradiojetstays‘on’.
However,followingthepersistenceofthesteadyLS-likeradioemissionintothe
hard VHS/IS, the data do indicate that a change in the radio emission does occur
priortotheradioflare.Inbrief,itappearsthattheradioemissionstartstobecome
more variable, with a peaked or (more) optically thin spectrum shortly before the
radioflare.Atpresentwedonothaveaclearpictureofwhatisgoingonduringthis
AUNIFIEDMODELFORBLACKHOLEX-RAYBINARYJETS 3
GRS 1915+105 GX 339-4
120 55
Ryle 15 GHz ATCA 4.8 GHz
110 50
Radio flux density 1 0678900000 (a) Radio flux density 223344050505 (b)
50 15
40 10
Hard Alternating Soft
Hard VHS/IS Soft VHS/IS LS V/IHSS VHS/IS / HS
VHS/IS peak LS peak VHS/IS peak
2.5e-07 1.5e-08
0.001-100 keV 0.001-100 keV
2e-07
X-ray flux 1. 51ee--0077 X-ray flux 1e-08
5e-08
5e-09
0.2 0.9
X-ray colours 00 0..01.155 (15.2-42.3 keV)/(2.1-5.9 keV) X-ray colours 0000000.......2345678 (6.3-10.5 keV)/(3.8-6.3 keV)
0 0.1
1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time (seconds) Days (MJD-52339)
XTE J1859+226 XTE J1550-564
120 300
Ryle 15 GHz ATCA 5 GHz
100 (c) MERVLLIAN 41..97 GGHHzz 250 (d)
Radio flux density 468000 Radio flux density 112050000
20 50
0 0
Hard Alternating Hard/Soft
LS VHS/IS Alternating soft/hard VHS/IS LS Hard VHS/IS VHS/IS
LS peak VHS/IS peak LS peak VHS/IS peak
7e-08 2.5e-07
6.5e-08 0.001-100 keV 0.01-100 keV
6e-08 2e-07
5.5e-08
X-ray flux 34 ..4555eeee----00008888 X-ray flux 1 .15ee--0077
3e-08
2.5e-08 5e-08
2e-08
1.5e-08
0.8 0.7
X-ray colours 000000......234567 (6.3-10.5 keV)/(3.8-6.3 keV) X-ray colours 0000....3456 (6.3-10.5 keV)/(3.8-6.3 keV)
0.1 0.2
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Days (MJD-51460) Days (MJD-51000.0)
Figure1. RadioandX-raylightcurves,X-raycoloursandX-raystateclassificationsduringperiods
aroundtransientjetformation,forfourblackhole(candidate)X-raybinaries.InGRS1915+105the
canonicalLSorHSareneverreached;inGX339-4,XTEJ1859+226andXTEJ1550-564thedelay
betweenthecanonicalLSpeakandsubsequentVHS/ISpeakrangesfromafewdaysto2weeks.
Nevertheless,inallfourcasestheradioflareoccursatthetimeoftheVHSpeak,indicatingaclear
associationbetweenthis,andnotthepreviousLS,andthemajorejection.TheunitsoftheX-rayflux
areergs−1cm−2.
4 R.FENDERETAL.
1
HS LS
n
o
gt
n
di 0.1
d
E
y /
sit
o
n
mi
u
V l 0.01
e
k
0
8
2-
GX 339-4
XTE J1859+226
XTE J1550-564
0.001
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
X-ray colour
Figure2. CombinedX-rayhardness–luminositydiagramforGX339-4,XTEJ1859+226andXTE
J1550-564.TheX-rayfluxesplottedinFigure1b–1dhavebeenscaledtoEddington-ratioedlumi-
nosities;allthesourcesmoveapproximatelyanti-clockwiseinthediagram.NotethatejectionsinGX
339-4andXTEJ1859+226occuratalmostexactlythesamecolourandX-rayluminosity.Mostof
thedatapointscorrespondtovaryingdegreesoftheVHS/IS,andnotthecanonicalLS(totheright)
orHS(totheleft).
phase, but it hints that the major ejection episode is already inevitable some days
inadvanceofitsobservationalsignature.SeeFBG04formoredetails.
3.2. ASSOCIATION OF THE OUTBURST WITH THE SOFT VHS/IS PEAK
TheclearestobservationalfacttobegleanedfromFigure1isthatthemajoropti-
callythinradiooutburstsoccurinatransitionfromthe‘softVHS/IS’tothe‘hard
VHS/IS’. Figure 2 indicates the point of radio outburst in hardness–luminosity
plane. This aspect is discussed in considerably more detail in FBG04 but it suf-
fices to note here that to our knowledge there are no exceptions to this pattern of
behaviour in any black hole X-ray binary. It is important to note that very similar
conclusions about the behaviour of the radio emission in the VHS/IS were drawn
byCorbeletal.(2004).
4. IncreasingJetVelocityinOutburst?
InFigure3,weplotestimatedlimitsontheLorentzfactorsofjetsfromahandful
of X-ray binary systems as a function of X-ray luminosity at the point of the jet
launch.Itisimportanttorealisethatthelower-leftpointisanupperlimitonthemean
Lorentz factor of jets in the low/hard state (Gallo et al., 2003; but see also Heinz