Low frequency oscillations in black holes: a spectral-timing approach to the case of GX 339-4

TL;DR

This study analyzes low frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in the black hole binary GX 339-4 over eight years, revealing spectral dependencies and different physical origins for QPO types, supporting models involving Lense-Thirring precession.

Contribution

It extends the ABC classification of QPOs to include spectral dependencies and differentiates the physical mechanisms behind QPO types in black hole binaries.

Findings

Type-A and -C QPOs may follow the same frequency-flux relation.

Type-B QPOs show a distinct relation with power-law flux.

QPO frequencies correlate with disk flux during outburst rise.

Abstract

We analyzed RXTE/PCA and HEXTE data of the transient black hole binary GX 339-4, col- lected over a time span of eight years. We studied the properties and the behavior of low frequency quasi periodic oscillations (QPOs) as a function of the integrated broad-band variability and the spectral parameters during four outbursts (2002, 2004, 2007, 2010). Most of the QPOs could be classified following the ABC classification that has been proposed before. Our results show that the ABC classification can be extended to include spectral dependencies and that the three QPO types have indeed intrinsically different properties. In terms of the relation between QPO frequency and power-law flux, type-A and -C QPOs may follow the same relation, whereas the type-B QPOs trace out a very different relation. Type-B QPO frequencies clearly correlate with the powerlaw-flux and are connected to local increases of the count rate. The frequency of all QPOs observed in the rising phase of the 2002, 2007 and 2010 outburst correlate with the disk flux. Our results can be interpreted within the framework of recently proposed QPO models involving Lense-Thirring precession. We suggest that type- C and -A QPOs might be connected and could be interpreted as being the result of the same phenomenon observed at different stages of the outburst evolution, while a different physical process produces type-B QPOs.