The 2018 outburst of BHXB H1743-322 as seen with MeerKAT

TL;DR

This paper reports on the 2018 outburst of the black hole X-ray binary H1743-322 observed with MeerKAT, analyzing radio and X-ray data to understand its behavior and correlation patterns.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed radio observations of the 2018 outburst and compares its properties with previous outbursts, highlighting consistent 'radio-quiet' behavior.

Findings

H1743-322 exhibited a 'hard-only' X-ray outburst similar to past events.

The source follows the 'radio-quiet' correlation in the radio/X-ray plane.

The radio spectral index remained consistent with the 'radio-quiet' population.

Abstract

In recent years, the black hole candidate X-ray binary system H1743-322 has undergone outbursts and it has been observed with X-ray and radio telescopes. We present 1.3 GHz MeerKAT radio data from the ThunderKAT Large Survey Project on radio transients for the 2018 outburst of H1743-322. We obtain seven detections from a weekly monitoring programme and use publicly available Swift X-ray Telescope and MAXI data to investigate the radio/X-ray correlation of H1743-322 for this outburst. We compare the 2018 outburst with those reported in the literature for this system and find that the X-ray outburst reported is similar to previously reported `hard-only' outbursts. As in previous outbursts, H1743-322 follows the `radio-quiet' correlation in the radio/X-ray plane for black hole X-ray binaries, and the radio spectral index throughout the outburst is consistent with the `radio-quiet' population.