Broad-band spectral evolution and temporal variability of IGR J17091-3624 during its 2016 outburst : SWIFT and NuSTAR results

TL;DR

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the 2016 outburst of IGR J17091-3624 using SWIFT and NuSTAR data, revealing spectral state transitions, QPO evolution, and accretion flow dynamics, and constraining the black hole's mass.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spectral and temporal evolution analysis of IGR J17091-3624 during its 2016 outburst, including mass estimation and accretion flow modeling.

Findings

Identification of all spectral states in the HID and HRD.

Detection of evolving low-frequency QPOs and heartbeat oscillations.

Constraining the black hole mass to 10.62-12.33 solar masses.

Abstract

We report on the 2016 outburst of the transient Galactic Black Hole candidate IGR J17091-3624 based on the observation campaign carried out with SWIFT and NuSTAR. The outburst profile, as observed with SWIFT-XRT, shows a typical `q'-shape in the Hardness Intensity Diagram (HID). Based on the spectral and temporal evolution of the different parameters, we are able to identify all the spectral states in the q-profile of HID and the Hardness-RMS diagram (HRD). Both XRT and NuSTAR observations show an evolution of low frequency Quasi periodic oscillations (QPOs) during the low hard and hard intermediate states of the outburst rising phase. We also find mHz QPOs along- with distinct coherent class variabilities (heartbeat oscillations) with different timescales, similar to the $\rho$-class (observed in GRS 1915+105). Phenomenological modelling of the broad-band XRT and NuSTAR spectra also reveals the evolution of high energy cut-off and presence of reflection from ionized material during the rising phase of the outburst. Further, we conduct the modelling of X-ray spectra of SWIFT and NuSTAR in 0.5 - 79 keV to understand the accretion flow dynamics based on two component flow model. From this modelling, we constrain the mass of the source to be in the range of 10.62 - 12.33 Msun with 90% confidence, which is consistent with earlier findings.