Bright Mini-outburst Ends the 12 yr Long Activity of the Black Hole Candidate Swift J1753.5-0127

© 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. We present optical, UV, and X-ray monitoring of the short orbital period black hole X-ray binary candidate Swift J1753.5-0127, focusing on the final stages of its 12 yr long outburst that started in 2005. From 2016 September onward, the...

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Main Authors: Zhang, G.B., Bernardini, F., Russell, D.M., Gelfand, J.D., Lasota, J.P., Qasim, A.A., Almannaei, A., Koljonen, K.I.I., Shaw, A.W., Lewis, F., Tomsick, J.A., Plotkin, Richard, Miller-Jones, James, Maitra, D., Homan, J., Charles, P.A., Kobel, P., Perez, D., Doran, R.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: IOP PUBLISHING LTD 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT140101082
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80171
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author Zhang, G.B.
Bernardini, F.
Russell, D.M.
Gelfand, J.D.
Lasota, J.P.
Qasim, A.A.
Almannaei, A.
Koljonen, K.I.I.
Shaw, A.W.
Lewis, F.
Tomsick, J.A.
Plotkin, Richard
Miller-Jones, James
Maitra, D.
Homan, J.
Charles, P.A.
Kobel, P.
Perez, D.
Doran, R.
author_facet Zhang, G.B.
Bernardini, F.
Russell, D.M.
Gelfand, J.D.
Lasota, J.P.
Qasim, A.A.
Almannaei, A.
Koljonen, K.I.I.
Shaw, A.W.
Lewis, F.
Tomsick, J.A.
Plotkin, Richard
Miller-Jones, James
Maitra, D.
Homan, J.
Charles, P.A.
Kobel, P.
Perez, D.
Doran, R.
author_sort Zhang, G.B.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. We present optical, UV, and X-ray monitoring of the short orbital period black hole X-ray binary candidate Swift J1753.5-0127, focusing on the final stages of its 12 yr long outburst that started in 2005. From 2016 September onward, the source started to fade, and within 3 months, the optical flux almost reached the quiescent level. Soon after that, using a new proposed rebrightening classification method, we recorded a mini-outburst and a reflare in the optical light curves, peaking in 2017 February (V ∼ 17.0) and May (V ∼ 17.9), respectively. Remarkably, the mini-outburst has a peak flux consistent with the extrapolation of the slow decay before the fading phase preceding it. The following reflare was fainter and shorter. We found from optical colors that the temperature of the outer disk was ∼11,000 K when the source started to fade rapidly. According to the disk instability model, this is close to the critical temperature when a cooling wave is expected to form in the disk, shutting down the outburst. The optical color could be a useful tool to predict decay rates in some X-ray transients. We notice that all X-ray binaries that show mini-outbursts following a main outburst are short orbital period systems (<7 hr). In analogy with another class of short-period binaries showing similar mini-outbursts, the cataclysmic variables of the RZ LMi type, we suggest that mini-outbursts could occur if there is a hot inner disk at the end of the outburst decay.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-801712020-07-29T09:34:49Z Bright Mini-outburst Ends the 12 yr Long Activity of the Black Hole Candidate Swift J1753.5-0127 Zhang, G.B. Bernardini, F. Russell, D.M. Gelfand, J.D. Lasota, J.P. Qasim, A.A. Almannaei, A. Koljonen, K.I.I. Shaw, A.W. Lewis, F. Tomsick, J.A. Plotkin, Richard Miller-Jones, James Maitra, D. Homan, J. Charles, P.A. Kobel, P. Perez, D. Doran, R. Science & Technology Physical Sciences Astronomy & Astrophysics accretion, accretion disks black hole physics X-rays: individual (Swift J1753.5-0127) DISC INSTABILITY MODEL X-RAY TRANSIENTS DWARF NOVAE MULTIWAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS GRO JO422+32 LIGHT CURVES DUTY CYCLE STATE ULTRAVIOLET LUMINOSITY © 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. We present optical, UV, and X-ray monitoring of the short orbital period black hole X-ray binary candidate Swift J1753.5-0127, focusing on the final stages of its 12 yr long outburst that started in 2005. From 2016 September onward, the source started to fade, and within 3 months, the optical flux almost reached the quiescent level. Soon after that, using a new proposed rebrightening classification method, we recorded a mini-outburst and a reflare in the optical light curves, peaking in 2017 February (V ∼ 17.0) and May (V ∼ 17.9), respectively. Remarkably, the mini-outburst has a peak flux consistent with the extrapolation of the slow decay before the fading phase preceding it. The following reflare was fainter and shorter. We found from optical colors that the temperature of the outer disk was ∼11,000 K when the source started to fade rapidly. According to the disk instability model, this is close to the critical temperature when a cooling wave is expected to form in the disk, shutting down the outburst. The optical color could be a useful tool to predict decay rates in some X-ray transients. We notice that all X-ray binaries that show mini-outbursts following a main outburst are short orbital period systems (<7 hr). In analogy with another class of short-period binaries showing similar mini-outbursts, the cataclysmic variables of the RZ LMi type, we suggest that mini-outbursts could occur if there is a hot inner disk at the end of the outburst decay. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80171 10.3847/1538-4357/ab12dd English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT140101082 IOP PUBLISHING LTD fulltext
spellingShingle Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics
accretion, accretion disks
black hole physics
X-rays: individual (Swift J1753.5-0127)
DISC INSTABILITY MODEL
X-RAY TRANSIENTS
DWARF NOVAE
MULTIWAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS
GRO JO422+32
LIGHT CURVES
DUTY CYCLE
STATE
ULTRAVIOLET
LUMINOSITY
Zhang, G.B.
Bernardini, F.
Russell, D.M.
Gelfand, J.D.
Lasota, J.P.
Qasim, A.A.
Almannaei, A.
Koljonen, K.I.I.
Shaw, A.W.
Lewis, F.
Tomsick, J.A.
Plotkin, Richard
Miller-Jones, James
Maitra, D.
Homan, J.
Charles, P.A.
Kobel, P.
Perez, D.
Doran, R.
Bright Mini-outburst Ends the 12 yr Long Activity of the Black Hole Candidate Swift J1753.5-0127
title Bright Mini-outburst Ends the 12 yr Long Activity of the Black Hole Candidate Swift J1753.5-0127
title_full Bright Mini-outburst Ends the 12 yr Long Activity of the Black Hole Candidate Swift J1753.5-0127
title_fullStr Bright Mini-outburst Ends the 12 yr Long Activity of the Black Hole Candidate Swift J1753.5-0127
title_full_unstemmed Bright Mini-outburst Ends the 12 yr Long Activity of the Black Hole Candidate Swift J1753.5-0127
title_short Bright Mini-outburst Ends the 12 yr Long Activity of the Black Hole Candidate Swift J1753.5-0127
title_sort bright mini-outburst ends the 12 yr long activity of the black hole candidate swift j1753.5-0127
topic Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics
accretion, accretion disks
black hole physics
X-rays: individual (Swift J1753.5-0127)
DISC INSTABILITY MODEL
X-RAY TRANSIENTS
DWARF NOVAE
MULTIWAVELENGTH OBSERVATIONS
GRO JO422+32
LIGHT CURVES
DUTY CYCLE
STATE
ULTRAVIOLET
LUMINOSITY
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT140101082
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80171