Swift observations of black hole candidate XTE J with P. Casella. T.J. Maccarone & P.A. Evans Peter A. Curran Laboratoire AIM, Irfu /Service d'Astrophysique CEA Saclay, France
Swift and X-ray transients Gamma-ray burst (GRB) satellite: Burst Alert Telescope (BAT: keV) X-ray Telescope (XRT: keV) Ultraviolet & Optical Telescope (UVOT: UV,U,B,V)
Swift and X-ray transients Flexible scheduling Fast pointing Timing & spectral capabilities Quasi-simultaneous observations( keV)
Companion Star: cool thermal (nIR-optical-UV) Accretion Disk: warm/hot thermal (optical-X-ray) Corona, Jet: non-thermal (radio, X-ray) All emissions regions probed by Swift
XTE J Discovered by RXTE on Black-hole candidate with radio-observed jet Observed by RXTE, Swift, Fermi, Suzaku, MAXI, & ground- based optical/radio telescopes ~50 Swift observations over 8 months (Curran et al. 2010)
X-ray light curves MAXI 4-10 keV Swift-XRT keV Swift-BAT keV
Identifying the states
Identifying the states: XRT-BAT spectra Hard (power-law) Soft/thermal XRT BAT
Spectral parameters & states hard soft hard intermediate
X-ray light curves & states quiescence hard softhard intermediate
MAXI light curves keV 4-10 keV keV Matsuoka et al., 2009
Hardness Intensity Diagrams
XRT BAT/MAXI
Hardness Intensity Diagrams XRT BAT/MAXI
XRT power spectra
Hard state (average) RMS ~54% Soft state (average) RMS <12%
XRT power spectra: RMS hard soft hard intermediate
XRT power spectra: QPO? QPO? Hard state (average) RMS ~54% Soft state (average) RMS <12%
XRT power spectra: QPO? QPO? Hard state (individual sequence)
Optical counterpart
Counterpart (nIR) IMACS i’ band image Torres et al., 2009
Counterpart & sub-arcsec position UVOT v band image DSS image
Optical light curve variability
Optical – X-ray correlation Early, hard state Soft state & later
Optical – X-ray correlation Early, hard state Soft state & later Hysteresis: excess emission due to hard state jet?
Counterpart colour? UVOT u-b-v
Colour: 0 < β < 4 Counterpart colour?
XTE J : Further work Multi-wavelength spectral fits Radio – nIR/optical/UV – XRT – RXTE – Fermi Multi-wavelength spectral fits Radio – nIR/optical/UV – XRT – RXTE – Fermi
Conclusions Swift observations of the first known outburst of XTE J allowed us to: Confirm and refine the epochs of the canonical X-ray states Confirm the optical counterpart and produce a sub-arcsecond position Discover an optical - X-ray correlation and hysteresis effect Furthermore, these discussed properties of XTE J support its candidacy as a black hole in the Galactic centre region