Powerful, rotating disk winds from stellar-mass black holes
- Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1042 (United States)
- Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OHA (United Kingdom)
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584 CA Utrecht, NL (Netherlands)
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 662, Greedbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
- Department of Physics, Stanford University, 382 Via Pueblo Mall, Stanford, CA, 94305 (United States)
- Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV 89154 (United States)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
We present an analysis of ionized X-ray disk winds found in the Fe K band of four stellar-mass black holes observed with Chandra, including 4U 1630−47, GRO J1655−40, H 1743−322, and GRS 1915+105. High-resolution photoionization grids were generated in order to model the data. Third-order gratings spectra were used to resolve complex absorption profiles into atomic effects and multiple velocity components. The Fe xxv line is found to be shaped by contributions from the intercombination line (in absorption), and the Fe xxvi line is detected as a spin–orbit doublet. The data require 2–3 absorption zones, depending on the source. The fastest components have velocities approaching or exceeding 0.01c, increasing mass outflow rates and wind kinetic power by orders of magnitude over prior single-zone models. The first-order spectra require re-emission from the wind, broadened by a degree that is loosely consistent with Keplerian orbital velocities at the photoionization radius. This suggests that disk winds are rotating with the orbital velocity of the underlying disk, and provides a new means of estimating launching radii—crucial to understanding wind driving mechanisms. Some aspects of the wind velocities and radii correspond well to the broad-line region in active galactic nuclei (AGNs), suggesting a physical connection. We discuss these results in terms of prevalent models for disk wind production and disk accretion itself, and implications for massive black holes in AGNs.
- OSTI ID:
- 22882396
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 814, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Since 2009, the country of publication for this journal is the UK.; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
AN EXTREME X-RAY DISK WIND IN THE BLACK HOLE CANDIDATE IGR J17091-3624
MAGNETICALLY DRIVEN ACCRETION DISK WINDS AND ULTRA-FAST OUTFLOWS IN PG 1211+143