A model for the Z-track phenomenon in GX 5-1 and observational evidence for the physical origins of the kHz QPO

TL;DR

This study combines spectral and timing analysis of GX 5-1, revealing how accretion rate and radiation pressure influence the Z-track behavior and kHz QPOs, proposing models for disk disruption, jet formation, and nuclear burning.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model linking spectral states, kHz QPOs, and physical processes like disk disruption and nuclear burning in GX 5-1.

Findings

Spectral fits support the Extended ADC emission model.

Neutron star flux becomes super-Eddington at the soft apex.

Correlation between kHz QPO frequency and flux ratio suggests inner disk oscillations.

Abstract

We present results of a combined investigation of the spectral and kHz QPO evolution around the Z-track in GX 5-1 based on high-quality RXTE data. The Extended ADC emission model provides very good fits to the spectra, the results pointing clearly to a model for the nature of the Z-track, in agreement with previous results for the similar source GX 340+0. In this model, at the soft apex of the Z-track, the mass accretion rate Mdot is minimum and the neutron star has its lowest temperature; but as the source moves along the normal branch, the luminosity of the Comptonized emission increases, indicating that Mdot increases and the neutron star gets hotter. The measured flux f of the neutron star emission increases by a factor of ten becoming super-Eddington, and we propose that this disrupts the inner disk so forming jets. In flaring, the luminosity of the dominant Comptonized emission from the ADC is constant, while the neutron star emission increases, and we propose for the first time that flaring consists of unstable nuclear burning on the neutron star, and the measured mass accretion rate per unit area mdot at the onset of flaring agrees well with the theoretical critical value at which burning becomes unstable. There is a striking correlation between the frequencies of the kHz QPO and the ratio of the flux to the Eddington value: f/f_Edd, suggesting an explanation of the higher frequency QPO and of its variation along the Z-track. It is well known that a Keplerian orbit in the disk at this frequency corresponds to a position some distance from the neutron star; we propose that the oscillation always occurs at the inner disk edge, which moves radially outwards on the upper normal and horizontal branches as the measured increasing radiation pressure increasingly disrupts the inner disk.