The kHz QPOs as a probe of the X-ray color-color diagram and accretion-disk structure for the atoll source 4U 1728-34

TL;DR

This study uses kHz QPOs to explore how the X-ray color-color diagram of atoll source 4U 1728-34 relates to accretion disk structure and magnetosphere-disk interactions, revealing correlations between spectral states and disk radius.

Contribution

It provides a novel interpretation linking the shape of the CCD to the magnetosphere-disk boundary and neutron star surface, based on kHz QPO analysis.

Findings

Inner disk approaches NS surface from 33.0 km to 15.9 km

CCD shape linked to disk radius range of 15.9-33.0 km

Corotation radius near 34.4 km influences CCD shape

Abstract

We have taken the kHz QPOs as a tool to probe the correlation between the tracks of X-ray color-color diagram (CCD) and magnetosphere-disk positions for the atoll source 4U 1728-34, based on the assumptions that the upper kHz QPO is ascribed to the Keplerian orbital motion and the neutron star (NS) magnetosphere is defined by the dipole magnetic field. We find that from the island to the banana state, the inner accretion disk gradually approaches the NS surface with the radius decreasing from r ~33.0km to ~15.9 km, corresponding to the magnetic field from B(r) ~4.8*10^6 G to ~4.3*10^7 G. In addition, we note the characteristics of some particular radii of magnetosphere-disk -r are: firstly, the whole atoll shape of the CCD links the disk radius range of ~15.9 - 33.0 km, which is just located inside the corotation radius of 4U 1728-34 -r_co ( ~34.4 km), implying that the CCD shape is involved in the NS spin-up state. Secondly, the island and banana states of CCD correspond to the two particular boundaries: (I)-near the corotation radius at r ~27.2 - 33.0 km, where the source lies in the island state; (II)-near the NS surface at r ~15.9 - 22.3 km, where the source lies in both the island and banana states. Thirdly, the vertex of the atoll shape in CCD, where the radiation transition from the hard to soft photons occurs, is found to be near the NS surface at r ~16.4 km. The above results suggest that both the magnetic field and accretion environment are related to the CCD structure of atoll track, where the corotation radius and NS hard surface play the significant roles in the radiation distribution of atoll source.