kHz QPOs from the 2000 and 2010 X-ray transients located in the globular cluster Terzan 5: EXO1745-248 and IGR J17480-2446

TL;DR

This study analyzes kHz QPOs in two X-ray transients in Terzan 5, revealing their properties, variability, and implications for neutron star and accretion disk physics.

Contribution

It provides detailed measurements of QPO frequencies, widths, and quality factors, and introduces a maximum likelihood method for short segment analysis.

Findings

QPOs detected at 670-715 Hz with high coherence

Intrinsic Q factor around 297 at 691 Hz

QPO properties consistent with Z source characteristics

Abstract

EXO1745-248 is a transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary located in the globular cluster Terzan 5. It was in outburst in 2000 and displayed during one Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer observation a highly coherent quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) at frequencies between 670 and 715 Hz. Applying a maximum likelihood method to fit the X-ray power density spectrum, we show that the QPO can be detected on segments as short as T=48 seconds. We find that its width is consistent with being constant, while previous analysis based on longer segment duration (200 s) found it variable. If the QPO frequency variations in EXO1745-248 follows a random walk (i.e. the contribution of the drift to the measured width increases like square root of T), we derive an intrinsic width of about 2.3 Hz. This corresponds to an intrinsic quality factor of about 297+/-50 at 691 Hz. We also show that Q is consistent with being constant between 2.5 and 25 keV. IGR J17480-2446 is another X-ray transient located in Terzan 5. It is a very interesting object showing accretion powered pulsations and burst oscillations at 11 Hz. We report on the properties of its kHz QPOs detected between October 18th and October 23rd, soon after the source had moved from the so-called Atoll to the Z state. Its QPOs are typical of persistent Z sources; in the sense that they have low Q factors (about 30) and low RMS amplitudes (about 5 %). The highest frequency (at 870 Hz), if orbital, sets a lower limit on the inner disk radius of about 18.5 km, and an upper limit to the dipole moment of the magnetic field 5 x 10^26 G cm^3.