Evidence for Harmonic Relationships in the High-Frequency Quasi-periodic Oscillations of XTE J1550–564 and GRO J1655–40

By Ronald A. Remillard, M. Muno, J. E. McClintock, J. Orosz. 2002

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We continue to investigate the X-ray properties of the black hole binary XTE J1550-564. By grouping observations (1998-1999) according to the type of low-frequency quasiperiodic oscillation (LFQPO) identified in a previous paper, we show evidence that two high-frequency QPOs (HFQPOs) occur simultaneously near 184 and 276 Hz. We can model the QPO profiles while assuming that the central frequencies are related by a 3 : 2 ratio. In one group, there is some evidence of a broad feature at the fundamental frequency of 92 Hz. We also investigate the 2000 April outburst, and we confirm the suggestion of Miller et al. that a 270 Hz QPO is accompanied by a second feature near 180 Hz. The histogram for the 28 individual HFQPO detections in XTE J1550-564 shows two peaks near 184 and 276 Hz, while there is a notable exception in the 143 Hz QPO detected on 1998 October 15. Similarly, all of the 13 HFQPO detections in the black hole binary GRO J1655-40 occur at two frequencies that are related by a 3 : 2 ratio. We next investigate all of the energy spectra for XTE J1550-564, and we find a systematic increase in the strength of the power-law component as the stronger of the two HFQPOs shifts from 276 to 184 Hz. A strikingly similar result is seen in the spectra of GRO J1655-40 when the stronger HFQPO shifts from 450 to 300 Hz. The fundamental HFQPO frequencies for the two X-ray sources scale as M-1, which is consistent with the hypotheses that these HFQPOs represent some kind of oscillation rooted in general relativity (GR) and that the two black holes have similar values of the dimensionless spin parameter. We discuss physical mechanisms that may explain these HFQPOs. A resonance between orbital and radial coordinate frequencies is one possibility suggested by Abramowicz & Kluzniak. For XTE J1550-564, this would imply moderate values for the dimensionless spin parameter (0.1 < a* < 0.6), with similar results for GRO J1655-40. A resonance between polar and radial coordinate frequencies allows additional values for a* above 0.9. There remain serious uncertainties regarding the physical mechanism whereby resonances in coordinate frequencies may produce HFQPOs. We also discuss models for "diskoseismic" oscillations. In this case, the concept that the inner disk behaves as a resonance cavity in GR has certain attractions for explaining HFQPOs, but integral harmonics are not predicted for the three types of diskoseismic modes derived for adiabatic perturbations in a thin accretion disk.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Geophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7d81d04e40fde04cffc5df0ea740963fe9d8a296

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Citations in the corpus

A new simple model for high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in black hole candidates (2003, unknown): “…could be particularly severe for the resonance model, whose relevant frequencies confine the resonance to a narrow region in radial coordinates [This situation is worsened for the 1:3 resonance for which the radial variation of the frequencies is even more rapid (Remillard et al., 2002).].”
Low-frequency oscillations in black holes: a spectral-timing approach to the case of GX 339-4 (2011, background): “Three main types of LFQPOs, dubbed types A, B, and C, originally identified in the Power Density Spectra (PDS) of XTE J1550-564 (see Wijnands et al. 1999; Homan et al. 2001; Remillard et al. 2002), have been see in several sources.”
Non-Linear Resonance in Nearly Geodesic Motion in Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries (2003, unknown): “…of the two peaks in the power spectrum of the X-ray variability in black holes are in rational ratios, ω1 : ω2 = m : n, with m : n = 2 : 3 for two sources, and m : n = 3 : 5 in a third source (Abramowicz, Kluźniak 2001; Kluźniak, Abramowicz 2002; Remillard et al. 2002; Abramowicz et al. 2002a).”
X-Ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries (2006, methodology): “The four sources that exhibit harmonic pairs of frequencies in a 3:2 ratio (see §6.2) suggest that HFQPOs arise from some type of resonance mechanism (Abramowicz & Kluźniak 2001; Remillard et al. 2002a).”
Simultaneous Chandra and RXTE Spectroscopy of the Microquasar H1743–322: Clues to Disk Wind and Jet Formation from a Variable Ionized Outflow (2004, result): “However, there is evidence that black hole QPO pairs may drift out of a 2:3 ratio (Miller et al. 2001; Remillard et al. 2002), and the 2:3 ratio described by the resonancemodel for socalled kHz QPOs in neutron star systems is at odds with the data (Miller 2004).”
AN IMPROVED DYNAMICAL MODEL FOR THE MICROQUASAR XTE J1550−564 (2011, background): “It is one of seven sources of high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs), and it is only one of four such sources that exhibit harmonic pairs of frequencies in a 3:2 ratio (Miller et al. 2001; Remillard et al. 2002a; Remillard & McClintock 2006).”
The spin of the black hole microquasar XTE J1550−564 via the continuum-fitting and Fe-line methods (2010, background): “…X-ray spectral and timing properties of this source have been comprehensively studied by many authors (e.g. Sobczak et al. 2000; Homan et al. 2001; Remillard et al. 2002b; Kubota & Done 2004; Dunn et al. 2010), as have been the properties of its radio counterpart (Corbel et al. 2001; Xue, Wu &…”
The orbital resonance model for twin peak kHz quasi periodic oscillations in microquasars (2005, background): “…based Article published by EDP Sciences and available at http://www.edpsciences.org/aa or http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20047115 a Twin peak kHz QPOs reported by Strohmayer (2001). b Twin peak kHz QPOs reported by Remillard et al. (2002). c Twin peak kHz QPOs reported by Homan et al. (2003).”