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Title: ASASSN-18ey: The Rise of a New Black Hole X-Ray Binary

Abstract

We present the discovery of ASASSN-18ey (MAXI J1820+070), a new black hole low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) discovered by the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN). A week after ASAS-SN discovered ASASSN-18ey as an optical transient, it was detected as an X-ray transient by MAXI/GCS. Here, we analyze ASAS-SN and Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System pre-outburst optical light curves, finding evidence of intrinsic variability for several years prior to the outburst. While there was no long-term rise leading to the outburst, as has been seen in several other systems, the start of the outburst in the optical preceded that in the X-rays by 7.20 ± 0.97 days. Here, we analyze the spectroscopic evolution of ASASSN-18ey from pre-maximum to >100 days post-maximum. The spectra of ASASSN-18ey exhibit broad, asymmetric, double-peaked Hα emission. The Bowen blend (λ ≈ 4650 Å) in the post-maximum spectra shows highly variable double-peaked profiles, likely arising from irradiation of the companion by the accretion disk, typical of low-mass X-ray binaries. The optical and X-ray luminosities of ASASSN-18ey are consistent with black hole low-mass X-ray binaries, both in outburst and quiescence.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6];  [7];  [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [8];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [9]; ORCiD logo [10];  [1] more »;  [1];  [11]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [12]; ORCiD logo [8] « less
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of Hawai'i, Honolulu, HI (United States)
  2. The Observatories of the Carnegie Inst. for Science, Pasadena, CA (United States)
  3. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States); Univ. of Copenhagen, Copenhagen (Denmark)
  4. The Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)
  5. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States); Curtin Univ., Perth (Australia)
  6. Peking Univ., Beijing (People's Republic of China)
  7. Univ. Diego Portales, Santiago (Chile); Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, Santiago (Chile)
  8. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
  9. Queens Univ. Belfast, Belfast (United Kingdom)
  10. LSST, Tucson, AZ (United States)
  11. Space Telescope Science Inst., Baltimore, MD (United States)
  12. Univ. of Hawai'i, Honolulu, HI (United States); Harvard College, Haverford, PA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
Contributing Org.:
ASAS-SN; ATLAS
OSTI Identifier:
1544097
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online); Journal Volume: 867; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-8213
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astronomy & Astrophysics; accretion; accretion disks; stars: black holes; X-rays: binaries

Citation Formats

Tucker, M. A., Shappee, B. J., Holoien, T. W. -S., Auchettl, K., Strader, J., Stanek, K. Z., Kochanek, C. S., Bahramian, A., Dong, Subo, Prieto, J. L., Shields, J., Thompson, Todd A., Beacom, John F., Chomiuk, L., Denneau, L., Flewelling, H., Heinze, A. N., Smith, K. W., Stalder, B., Tonry, J. L., Weiland, H., Rest, A., Huber, M. E., Rowan, D. M., and Dage, K. ASASSN-18ey: The Rise of a New Black Hole X-Ray Binary. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aae88a.
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Tucker, M. A., Shappee, B. J., Holoien, T. W. -S., Auchettl, K., Strader, J., Stanek, K. Z., Kochanek, C. S., Bahramian, A., Dong, Subo, Prieto, J. L., Shields, J., Thompson, Todd A., Beacom, John F., Chomiuk, L., Denneau, L., Flewelling, H., Heinze, A. N., Smith, K. W., Stalder, B., Tonry, J. L., Weiland, H., Rest, A., Huber, M. E., Rowan, D. M., & Dage, K. ASASSN-18ey: The Rise of a New Black Hole X-Ray Binary. United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aae88a
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Tucker, M. A., Shappee, B. J., Holoien, T. W. -S., Auchettl, K., Strader, J., Stanek, K. Z., Kochanek, C. S., Bahramian, A., Dong, Subo, Prieto, J. L., Shields, J., Thompson, Todd A., Beacom, John F., Chomiuk, L., Denneau, L., Flewelling, H., Heinze, A. N., Smith, K. W., Stalder, B., Tonry, J. L., Weiland, H., Rest, A., Huber, M. E., Rowan, D. M., and Dage, K. Mon . "ASASSN-18ey: The Rise of a New Black Hole X-Ray Binary". United States. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aae88a. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1544097.
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@article{osti_1544097,
title = {ASASSN-18ey: The Rise of a New Black Hole X-Ray Binary},
author = {Tucker, M. A. and Shappee, B. J. and Holoien, T. W. -S. and Auchettl, K. and Strader, J. and Stanek, K. Z. and Kochanek, C. S. and Bahramian, A. and Dong, Subo and Prieto, J. L. and Shields, J. and Thompson, Todd A. and Beacom, John F. and Chomiuk, L. and Denneau, L. and Flewelling, H. and Heinze, A. N. and Smith, K. W. and Stalder, B. and Tonry, J. L. and Weiland, H. and Rest, A. and Huber, M. E. and Rowan, D. M. and Dage, K.},
abstractNote = {We present the discovery of ASASSN-18ey (MAXI J1820+070), a new black hole low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) discovered by the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN). A week after ASAS-SN discovered ASASSN-18ey as an optical transient, it was detected as an X-ray transient by MAXI/GCS. Here, we analyze ASAS-SN and Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System pre-outburst optical light curves, finding evidence of intrinsic variability for several years prior to the outburst. While there was no long-term rise leading to the outburst, as has been seen in several other systems, the start of the outburst in the optical preceded that in the X-rays by 7.20 ± 0.97 days. Here, we analyze the spectroscopic evolution of ASASSN-18ey from pre-maximum to >100 days post-maximum. The spectra of ASASSN-18ey exhibit broad, asymmetric, double-peaked Hα emission. The Bowen blend (λ ≈ 4650 Å) in the post-maximum spectra shows highly variable double-peaked profiles, likely arising from irradiation of the companion by the accretion disk, typical of low-mass X-ray binaries. The optical and X-ray luminosities of ASASSN-18ey are consistent with black hole low-mass X-ray binaries, both in outburst and quiescence.},
doi = {10.3847/2041-8213/aae88a},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal. Letters (Online)},
number = 1,
volume = 867,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 29 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Mon Oct 29 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aae88a
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Cited by: 47 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Pre-outburst light curve of ASASSN-18ey from ASAS-SN and ATLAS. The green diamonds represent the ASAS-SN V-band, blue squares the ATLAS c-band, and orange squares the ATLAS o-band observations. There are obvious correlations between observations conducted in different filters, indicating that much of the variability is intrinsic to ASASSN-18eymore » and not nightly scatter. Fluxes are not corrected for interstellar extinction.« less
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Evolving optical polarisation of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070
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    Palomar Gattini-IR: Survey Overview, Data Processing System, On-sky Performance and First Results
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    • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 487, Issue 4
    • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz1686

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    • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Vol. 490, Issue 1
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    • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 868, Issue 1
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    X-Ray and Optical Monitoring of State Transitions in MAXI J1820+070
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    • Shidatsu, Megumi; Nakahira, Satoshi; Murata, Katsuhiro L.
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    A Timing Study of MAXI J1820+070 Based on Swift /XRT and NICER Monitoring in 2018/19
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    Dynamical Confirmation of a Black Hole in MAXI J1820+070
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    • Torres, M. A. P.; Casares, J.; Jiménez-Ibarra, F.
    • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 882, Issue 2
    • DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab39df

    Unveiling the Temporal Properties of MAXI J1820+070 through AstroSat Observations
    journal, January 2020

    • Mudambi, Sneha Prakash; Maqbool, Bari; Misra, Ranjeev
    • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 889, Issue 1
    • DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab66bc

    Evolving optical polarisation of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070
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    X-ray and Optical Monitoring of State Transitions in MAXI J1820+070
    text, January 2019

    Broad-band spectral study of X-ray transient MAXI J1820+070 using Swift/XRT and NuSTAR
    text, January 2019

    Palomar Gattini-IR: Survey overview, data processing system, on-sky performance and first results
    text, January 2019

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