Unveiling the nature of IGR J17177-3656 with X-ray, NIR and Radio observations

TL;DR

This study presents simultaneous broad-band X-ray, NIR, and radio observations of IGR J17177-3656, identifying it as a high-inclination low-mass X-ray binary likely containing a black hole.

Contribution

First simultaneous broad-band observations of IGR J17177-3656 across multiple wavelengths, providing precise localization and multi-wavelength data to classify its nature.

Findings

Identified IGR J17177-3656 as a low-mass X-ray binary

Estimated the source's position with high precision

Suggested the presence of a black hole in the system

Abstract

We report on the first broad-band (1-200 keV) simultaneous Chandra-INTEGRAL observations of the recently discovered hard X-ray transient IGR J17177-3656 that took place on 2011, March 22, about two weeks after the source discovery. The source had an average absorbed 1-200 keV flux of about 8x10^(-10) erg cm^(-2) s^(-1). We extracted a precise X-ray position of IGR J17177-3656, RA=17 17 42.62, DEC= -36 56 04.5 (90% uncertainty of 0.6"). We also report Swift, near infrared and quasi simultaneous radio follow-up observations. With the multi-wavelength information at hand, we propose IGR J17177-3656 is a low-mass X-ray binary, seen at high inclination, probably hosting a black hole.