MAXI/GSC Discovery of the Black Hole Candidate MAXI J1305-704

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and analysis of a new black hole candidate, MAXI J1305-704, observed by MAXI/GSC, showing characteristic state transitions and spectral features consistent with a Galactic black-hole binary.

Contribution

First identification and detailed X-ray spectral and temporal analysis of the new black hole candidate MAXI J1305-704.

Findings

Detected state transitions from hard to soft and vice versa.

Spectral analysis confirms black hole binary characteristics.

Luminosity differences at transition points support black hole interpretation.

Abstract

We present the first results on the new black hole candidate, MAXI J1305-704, observed by MAXI/GSC. The new X-ray transient, named as MAXI J1305-704, was first detected by the MAXI-GSC all-sky survey on 2012 April 9 in the direction to the outer Galactic bulge at (l,b)=(304.2deg,-7.6deg). The Swift/XRT follow-up observation confirmed the uncatalogued point source and localized to the position at (13h06m56s.44,-70d27'4".91). The source continued the activity for about five months until 2012 August. The MAXI/GSC light curve in the 2--10 keV band and the variation of the hardness ratio of the 4-10 keV to the 2-4 keV flux revealed the hard-to-soft state transition on the the sixth day (April 15) in the brightening phase and the soft-to-hard transition on the ~60th day (June 15) in the decay phase. The luminosity at the initial hard-to-soft transition was significantly higher than that at the soft-to-hard transition in the decay phase. The X-ray spectra in the hard state are represented by a single power-law model with a photon index of ~2.0, while those in the soft state need such an additional soft component as represented by a multi-color disk blackbody emission with an inner disk temperature ~0.5--1.2 keV. All the obtained features support the source identification of a Galactic black-hole binary located in the Galactic bulge.