XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL observations of the black hole candidate XTE J1817-330

TL;DR

This study analyzes XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL observations of the black hole candidate XTE J1817-330, revealing spectral components, interstellar absorption features, and estimating an upper mass limit for the black hole.

Contribution

First combined XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL spectral analysis of XTE J1817-330, providing insights into its accretion disk, corona, and interstellar medium characteristics.

Findings

Soft X-ray spectrum dominated by accretion disk with decreasing temperature

Detection of interstellar absorption lines in the RGS spectrum

Estimated upper limit for black hole mass at 6.0(+4.0/-2.5) solar masses

Abstract

The galactic black hole candidate XTE J1817-330 was discovered in outburst by RXTE in January 2006. We present here the results of an XMM-Newton Target of opportunity observation (TOO), performed on 13 March 2006 (44 days after the maximum), and an INTEGRAL observation performed on 15-18 February 2006 (18 days after the maximum). The EPIC-pn camera on-board XMM-Newton was used in the fast read-out Burst mode to avoid photon pile-up, while the RGSs were used in Spectroscopy high count-rate mode. We fit both the XMM-Newton and the INTEGRAL spectra with a two-component model consisting of a thermal accretion disk and a comptonizing hot corona. The soft X-ray spectrum is dominated by an accretion disk component, with a maximum temperature decreasing from 0.96+/-0.04 keV at the time of the INTEGRAL observation to 0.70+/-m0.01 keV on 13 March. The Optical Monitors on board INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton showed the source with magnitudes V: 11.3-11.4, U:15.0-15.1 and UVW1:14.7-14.8. The soft X-ray spectrum, together with the optical and UV data, show a low hydrogen column density towards the source, and several absorption lines, most likely of interstellar origin, are detected in the RGS spectrum: OI K-alpha, OI K-beta, OII, OIII and OVII, which trace both cold and hot components of the ISM. The soft X-ray spectrum indicates the presence of a black hole, with an estimate for the upper limit of the mass of 6.0(+4.0/-2.5) Msun.