Radio/X-ray Correlation in the Mini-Outburts of Black Hole X-ray Transient GRS 1739--278

TL;DR

This study presents simultaneous radio and X-ray observations of GRS 1739--278 during its mini-outbursts, revealing unusual spectral behaviors and a flat radio/X-ray luminosity correlation, differing from standard models.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of radio/X-ray correlation and spectral properties during mini-outbursts of GRS 1739--278, highlighting deviations from typical correlations.

Findings

Radio emission peaks during soft state with flat spectrum.

Diverse radio spectral indices observed in hard state.

The source exhibits a flat radio/X-ray luminosity correlation with p≈0.16.

Abstract

We present quasi-simultaneous radio and X-ray observations of the black hole X-ray binary GRS 1739--278 of its 2015-2016 mini-outbursts, i.e. between 2015 June 10 and 2016 October 31, with the X-ray-to-radio time interval being less than one day. The monitor champaign was run by \swift\, in the X-rays and by JVLA in the radio (at both 5 GHz and 8 GHz). We find the brightest radio emission is actually achieved during the soft sate, where radio spectrum is unexpectedly flat with a spectral index $\alpha\approx -0.2$ (flux $F_\nu\propto \nu^\alpha$). For the radio emission in hard state, we also find a large diversity in the spectral index, i.e. a majority of radio spectra are optically thick with $-0.5 < \alpha < 0.5$, while a few are optically thin with $\alpha < -1$. We also investigate the correlation between the luminosities in radio (monochromatic at 5 GHz, $L_R$) and 1-10 keV X-rays ($L_X$) during the hard state. We find this source does not follow the standard correlation whose $p\approx 0.6$ (in the form of $L_R\propto L_X^p$), but instead belongs to the "outlier" category that may follow a hybrid correlation. For more than orders of magnitude variation in the X-ray luminosity this source exhibits a flat correlation with $p\approx 0.16$. Both the slope and the corresponding luminosity range agree well with those in H1743--322, the prototype of the hybrid correlation.