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Vincentelli FM, Neilsen J, Tetarenko AJ, Cavecchi Y, Castro Segura N, Del Palacio S, van den Eijnden J, Vasilopoulos G, Altamirano D, Armas Padilla M, Bailyn CD, Belloni T, Buisson DJK, Cúneo VA, Degenaar N, Knigge C, Long KS, Jiménez-Ibarra F, Milburn J, Muñoz Darias T, Özbey Arabacı M, Remillard R, Russell T. A shared accretion instability for black holes and neutron stars. Nature 2023; 615:45-49. [PMID: 36859580 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05648-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 03/03/2023]
Abstract
Accretion disks around compact objects are expected to enter an unstable phase at high luminosity1. One instability may occur when the radiation pressure generated by accretion modifies the disk viscosity, resulting in the cyclic depletion and refilling of the inner disk on short timescales2. Such a scenario, however, has only been quantitatively verified for a single stellar-mass black hole3-5. Although there are hints of these cycles in a few isolated cases6-10, their apparent absence in the variable emission of most bright accreting neutron stars and black holes has been a continuing puzzle11. Here we report the presence of the same multiwavelength instability around an accreting neutron star. Moreover, we show that the variability across the electromagnetic spectrum-from radio to X-ray-of both black holes and neutron stars at high accretion rates can be explained consistently if the accretion disks are unstable, producing relativistic ejections during transitions that deplete or refill the inner disk. Such a new association allows us to identify the main physical components responsible for the fast multiwavelength variability of highly accreting compact objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Vincentelli
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.
- Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.
- Department of Physics, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA.
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
| | - J Neilsen
- Department of Physics, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA
| | - A J Tetarenko
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA
| | - Y Cavecchi
- Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico
- Departament de Física, EEBE, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
| | - N Castro Segura
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - S Del Palacio
- Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - J van den Eijnden
- Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - G Vasilopoulos
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550, Strasbourg, France
| | - D Altamirano
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - M Armas Padilla
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
- Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - C D Bailyn
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - T Belloni
- INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Merate, Italy
| | - D J K Buisson
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - V A Cúneo
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
- Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - N Degenaar
- Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - C Knigge
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - K S Long
- Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Eureka Scientific, Inc., Oakland, CA, USA
| | - F Jiménez-Ibarra
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
- Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - J Milburn
- Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
| | - T Muñoz Darias
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
- Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - M Özbey Arabacı
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - R Remillard
- MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - T Russell
- INAF, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, Palermo, Italy
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Castro Segura N, Knigge C, Long KS, Altamirano D, Armas Padilla M, Bailyn C, Buckley DAH, Buisson DJK, Casares J, Charles P, Combi JA, Cúneo VA, Degenaar ND, Del Palacio S, Díaz Trigo M, Fender R, Gandhi P, Georganti M, Gutiérrez C, Hernandez Santisteban JV, Jiménez-Ibarra F, Matthews J, Méndez M, Middleton M, Muñoz-Darias T, Özbey Arabacı M, Pahari M, Rhodes L, Russell TD, Scaringi S, van den Eijnden J, Vasilopoulos G, Vincentelli FM, Wiseman P. A persistent ultraviolet outflow from an accreting neutron star binary transient. Nature 2022; 603:52-57. [PMID: 35236977 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04324-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
All disc-accreting astrophysical objects produce powerful disc winds. In compact binaries containing neutron stars or black holes, accretion often takes place during violent outbursts. The main disc wind signatures during these eruptions are blue-shifted X-ray absorption lines, which are preferentially seen in disc-dominated 'soft states'1,2. By contrast, optical wind-formed lines have recently been detected in 'hard states', when a hot corona dominates the luminosity3. The relationship between these signatures is unknown, and no erupting system has as yet revealed wind-formed lines between the X-ray and optical bands, despite the many strong resonance transitions in this ultraviolet (UV) region4. Here we report that the transient neutron star binary Swift J1858.6-0814 exhibits wind-formed, blue-shifted absorption lines associated with C IV, N V and He II in time-resolved UV spectroscopy during a luminous hard state, which we interpret as a warm, moderately ionized outflow component in this state. Simultaneously observed optical lines also display transient blue-shifted absorption. Decomposing the UV data into constant and variable components, the blue-shifted absorption is associated with the former. This implies that the outflow is not associated with the luminous flares in the data. The joint presence of UV and optical wind features reveals a multi-phase and/or spatially stratified evaporative outflow from the outer disc5. This type of persistent mass loss across all accretion states has been predicted by radiation-hydrodynamic simulations6 and helps to explain the shorter-than-expected duration of outbursts7.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Castro Segura
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
| | - C Knigge
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - K S Long
- Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Eureka Scientific, Inc., Oakland, CA, USA
| | - D Altamirano
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - M Armas Padilla
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.,Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - C Bailyn
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - D A H Buckley
- South African Astronomical Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - D J K Buisson
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - J Casares
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.,Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - P Charles
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - J A Combi
- Instituto Argentino de Radioastronoma (CONICET; CICPBA; UNLP), Villa Elisa, Argentina
| | - V A Cúneo
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.,Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - N D Degenaar
- Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - S Del Palacio
- Instituto Argentino de Radioastronoma (CONICET; CICPBA; UNLP), Villa Elisa, Argentina
| | | | - R Fender
- Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - P Gandhi
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - M Georganti
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - C Gutiérrez
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.,Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA), University of Turku, Turku, Finland.,Tuorla Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | | | - F Jiménez-Ibarra
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Research Centre in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Astrophotonics, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - J Matthews
- Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - M Méndez
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - M Middleton
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - T Muñoz-Darias
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.,Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
| | - M Özbey Arabacı
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - M Pahari
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.,Department of Physics, IIT Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India
| | - L Rhodes
- Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - T D Russell
- Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,INAF, Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica, Palermo, Italy
| | - S Scaringi
- Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy, Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham, UK
| | - J van den Eijnden
- Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - G Vasilopoulos
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.,Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, UMR 7550, Strasbourg, France
| | - F M Vincentelli
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - P Wiseman
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
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