LOW-FREQUENCY (11 mHz) OSCILLATIONS IN H1743-322: A NEW CLASS OF BLACK HOLE QUASI-PERIODIC OSCILLATIONS?

Journal Article · Wed Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/754/2/L23· OSTI ID:22047646

Altamirano, D ^[1]; Strohmayer, T ^[2]

---

1. Astronomical Institute, 'Anton Pannekoek', University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098XH, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
2. Astrophysics Science Division, Mail Code 662, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)

We report the discovery of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) at {approx}11 mHz in two RXTE and one Chandra observations of the black hole candidate H1743-322. The QPO is observed only at the beginning of the 2010 and 2011 outbursts at similar hard color and intensity, suggestive of an accretion state dependence for the QPO. Although its frequency appears to be correlated with X-ray intensity on timescales of a day, in successive outbursts eight months apart, we measure a QPO frequency that differs by less than Almost-Equal-To 2.2 mHz while the intensity had changed significantly. We show that this {approx}11 mHz QPO is different from the so-called Type C QPOs seen in black holes and that the mechanisms that produce the two flavors of variability are most probably independent. After comparing this QPO with other variability phenomena seen in accreting black holes and neutron stars, we conclude that it best resembles the so-called 1 Hz QPOs seen in dipping neutron star systems, although having a significantly lower (1-2 orders of magnitude) frequency. If confirmed, H1743-322 is the first black hole showing this type of variability. Given the unusual characteristics and the hard-state dependence of the {approx}11 mHz QPO, we also speculate whether these oscillations could instead be related to the radio jets observed in H1743-322. A systematic search for this type of low-frequency QPOs in similar systems is needed to test this speculation. In any case, it remains unexplained why these QPOs have only been seen in the last two outbursts of H1743-322.

• OSTI ID: 22047646
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 754; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS
BLACK HOLES
COLOR
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
JETS
MHZ RANGE
NEUTRON STARS
OSCILLATIONS
PERIODICITY
STAR ACCRETION
X RADIATION