L. Hjalmarsdotter
Limits on pair production and multizone Comptonization: the broad-band X/γ-ray spectrum of XTE J1550–564 revisited
Hjalmarsdotter, L.; Axelsson, M.; Done, C.
Abstract
At high luminosities black hole binaries show spectra with a strong disc component accompanied by an equally strong tail where at least some of the electrons are non-thermal. We reanalyse the simultaneous ASCA–RXTE–OSSE data from the 1998 outburst of XTE J1550–564, which span 0.7–1000 keV and remain the best data available of a black hole binary in this state. We reassess the importance of electron–positron pair production using a realistically high value of the source compactness for the first time. The lack of an observable annihilation line together with the observed γ-ray flux beyond 511 keV constrains the maximum electron Lorentz factor to be ≤10, and the slope of the injected electrons to ≤2.5. We also use the fast (10–50 Hz) variability spectrum to constrain the spatial dependence of the electron heating and acceleration. We find that the spectrum of the fast variability is consistent with being fully thermal, so that the observed non-thermal emission is produced from further out in the flow.
Citation
Hjalmarsdotter, L., Axelsson, M., & Done, C. (2016). Limits on pair production and multizone Comptonization: the broad-band X/γ-ray spectrum of XTE J1550–564 revisited. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 456(4), 4354-4363. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2909
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Dec 8, 2015 |
Online Publication Date | Jan 15, 2016 |
Publication Date | Mar 11, 2016 |
Deposit Date | Mar 16, 2016 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 17, 2016 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Print ISSN | 0035-8711 |
Electronic ISSN | 1365-2966 |
Publisher | Royal Astronomical Society |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 456 |
Issue | 4 |
Pages | 4354-4363 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2909 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1389086 |
Files
Published Journal Article
(560 Kb)
PDF
Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
You might also like
The Peculiar Bursting Nature of CP Pup
(2024)
Journal Article
X-ray polarization properties of thermal-radiative disc winds in binary systems
(2023)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About Durham Research Online (DRO)
Administrator e-mail: dro.admin@durham.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search