IGR J17091–3624 is a black hole X-ray binary (BHXB), often referred to as the "twin" of GRS 1915+105 because it is the only other known BHXB that can show exotic "heartbeat"-like variability that is highly structured and repeated. Here, we report on observations of IGR J17091–3624 from its 2022 outburst, where we detect an unusually coherent quasiperiodic oscillation (QPO) when the broadband variability is low (total fractional rms ≲6%) and the spectrum is dominated by the accretion disk. Such spectral and variability behavior is characteristic of the soft state of typical BHXBs (i.e., those that do not show heartbeats), but we also find that this QPO is strongest when there is some exotic heartbeat-like variability (so-called Class V variability). This QPO is detected at frequencies between 5 and 8 Hz and has Q factors (defined as the QPO frequency divided by the width) ≳50, making it one of the most highly coherent low-frequency QPOs ever seen in a BHXB. The extremely high Q factor makes this QPO distinct from typical low-frequency QPOs that are conventionally classified into type-A/B/C QPOs. Instead, we find evidence that archival observations of GRS 1915+105 also showed a similarly high-coherence QPO in the same frequency range, suggesting that this unusually coherent and strong QPO may be unique to BHXBs that can exhibit "heartbeat"-like variability.
Highly Coherent Quasiperiodic Oscillations in the "Heartbeat" Black Hole X-Ray Binary IGR J17091–3624
Abstract
Copyright and License
© 2024. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Acknowledgement
We thank Keith Gendreau, Zaven Arzoumanian, and Elizabeth Ferrara for scheduling and performing the NICER observations. J.W. acknowledges support from the NASA FINESST Graduate Fellowship, under grant 80NSSC22K1596. J.W. thanks Gibwa Musoke, Megan Masterson, Mason Ng, Navin Sridhar, and Yerong Xu for useful discussions. J.W., E.K., J.A.G., G.M., and M.L. acknowledge support from NASA ADAP grant 80NSSC17K0515. A.I. and D.A. acknowledge support from the Royal Society. T.B. acknowledges the financial contribution from PRIN INAF 2019 n.15.
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Additional details
- ISSN
- 1538-4357
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- 80NSSC22K1596
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- 80NSSC17K0515
- National Institute for Astrophysics
- PRIN INAF 2019 n.15
- Caltech groups
- Space Radiation Laboratory