A new X-ray nova MAXI J1910-057 (= Swift J1910.2-0546) and mass-accretion inflow

TL;DR

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the long-term X-ray and UV behavior of the newly discovered MAXI J1910-057, revealing accretion disk dynamics, state transitions, and matter inflow in a black hole binary system.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed multi-wavelength monitoring of MAXI J1910-057, estimating the black hole mass and distance, and identifying disk truncation and inflow processes.

Findings

X-ray light curve shows fast-rise and exponential-decay profile with re-brightening.

Inner-disk radius remains constant during soft states, indicating a stable innermost orbit.

UV flux excess suggests reprocessed emission from the accretion disk.

Abstract

We report on a long-term monitoring of a newly discovered X-ray nova, MAXI J1910-057 (= Swift J1910.2-0546), by MAXI and Swift. The new X-ray transient was first detected on 2012 May 31 by MAXI Gas Slit Camera (GSC) and Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) almost simultaneously. We analyzed X-ray and UV data for 270 days since the outburst onset taken by repeated MAXI scans and Swift pointing observations. The obtained X-ray light curve for the inital 90 days is roughly represented by a fast-rise and exponential-decay profile. However, it re-brightened on the ~110 days after the onset and finally went down below both GSC and BAT detec- tion limits on the 240 day. All the X-ray energy spectra are fitted well with a model consisting of a multi-color-disk blackbody and its Comptonized hard tail. During the soft-state periods, the inner-disk radius of the best-fit model were almost constant. If the radius represents the innermost stable circular orbit of a non-spinning black hole and the soft-to-hard transitions occur at 1-4% of the Eddington luminosity, the mass of the compact object is estimated to be > 2.9Mo and the distance to be > 1.70 kpc. The inner-disk radius became larger in the hard / hard-intermediate state. This suggests that the accretion disk would be truncated. We detected an excess of the UV flux over the disk blackbody component extrapolated from the X-ray data, which can be modelled as reprocessed emission irradiated by the inner disk. We also found that the UV light curve mostly traced the X-ray curve, but a short dipping event was observed in both the UV and the X-ray bands with a 3.5-day X-ray time lag. This can be interpreted as the radial inflow of accreting matter from the outer UV region to the inner X-ray region.