The First Polarimetric View on Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in a Black Hole X-ray Binary

The First Polarimetric View on Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in a Black Hole X-ray Binary

January 18, 2024 | QING-CHANG ZHAO, LIAN TAO, HAN-CHENG LI, SHUANG-NAN ZHANG, HUA FENG, MING-YU GE, LONG JI, YA-NAN WANG, YUE HUANG, XIANG MA, LIANG ZHANG, JIN-LU QU, YAN-JUN XU, SHU ZHANG, QIAN-QING YIN, QING-CANG SHUI, RUI-CAN MA, SHU-JIE ZHAO, PAN-PING LI, ZI-XU YANG, HE-XIN LIU, and WEI YU
This study presents the first polarimetric analysis of Quasi-Periodic Oscillations (QPO) in a black hole binary system, Swift J1727.8–1613, using data from the Imaging X-ray Polarimeter Explorer (IXPE). The system experienced a bright outburst, observed across multiple wavelengths, and was studied in the Hard-Intermediate state. Polarization measurements showed a polarization degree (PD) of 4.28 ± 0.20% and a polarization angle (PA) of 1.9° ± 1.4°. Significant QPO signals were detected with a frequency of approximately 1.34 Hz and a fractional root-mean-square (RMS) amplitude of about 12.3%. A phase-resolved analysis using the Hilbert-Huang transform revealed that the photon index showed strong modulation with the QPO phase, while PD and PA remained constant, contradicting the expectation of Lense-Thirring precession of the inner flow. The results suggest that the QPO may originate from an intrinsic property of the accretion flow rather than geometric effects. The PD and PA did not show significant variation with photon energy, consistent with the predictions of the hot inner flow model. The findings indicate that the polarization properties of QPO are not modulated by the QPO phase, which has implications for understanding the physical mechanisms behind QPO in black hole binaries. Further theoretical studies are needed to reconcile these observations with existing models. This study highlights the importance of polarimetric observations in understanding the nature of QPO in black hole systems.This study presents the first polarimetric analysis of Quasi-Periodic Oscillations (QPO) in a black hole binary system, Swift J1727.8–1613, using data from the Imaging X-ray Polarimeter Explorer (IXPE). The system experienced a bright outburst, observed across multiple wavelengths, and was studied in the Hard-Intermediate state. Polarization measurements showed a polarization degree (PD) of 4.28 ± 0.20% and a polarization angle (PA) of 1.9° ± 1.4°. Significant QPO signals were detected with a frequency of approximately 1.34 Hz and a fractional root-mean-square (RMS) amplitude of about 12.3%. A phase-resolved analysis using the Hilbert-Huang transform revealed that the photon index showed strong modulation with the QPO phase, while PD and PA remained constant, contradicting the expectation of Lense-Thirring precession of the inner flow. The results suggest that the QPO may originate from an intrinsic property of the accretion flow rather than geometric effects. The PD and PA did not show significant variation with photon energy, consistent with the predictions of the hot inner flow model. The findings indicate that the polarization properties of QPO are not modulated by the QPO phase, which has implications for understanding the physical mechanisms behind QPO in black hole binaries. Further theoretical studies are needed to reconcile these observations with existing models. This study highlights the importance of polarimetric observations in understanding the nature of QPO in black hole systems.
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