AstroSat Observation of Non-Resonant Type-C QPOs in MAXI J1535-571

TL;DR

This study analyzes AstroSat data of MAXI J1535-571 during its 2017-18 outburst, revealing intermediate spectral states and non-resonant type-C QPOs caused by shock oscillations, enhancing understanding of black hole accretion physics.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed spectral and temporal analysis of MAXI J1535-571 using AstroSat data, identifying non-resonant shock oscillation origins of type-C QPOs.

Findings

Source was in intermediate spectral state.

Detected sharp type-C QPOs at 1.75-2.81 Hz.

QPOs caused by non-resonant shock oscillations.

Abstract

Galactic transient black hole candidate (BHC) MAXI J1535-571 was discovered on 2017 September 02 simultaneously by {\it MAXI}/GSC and {\it Swift}/BAT instruments. It has also been observed by India's first multi-wavelength astronomy-mission satellite {\it AstroSat}, during the rising phase of its 2017-18 outburst. We make both the spectral and the temporal analysis of the source during 2017 September 12-17 using data of {\it AstroSat}'s Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC) in the energy range of $3-40$~keV to infer the accretion flow properties of the source. Spectral analysis is done with the physical two-component advective flow (TCAF) solution-based {\it fits} file. From the nature of the variation of the TCAF model fitted physical flow parameters, we conclude and confirm that the source was in the intermediate spectral state during our analysis period. We observe sharp type-C quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the frequency range of $\sim 1.75-2.81$~Hz. For a better understanding of the nature and evolution of these type-C QPOs, a dynamic study of the power density spectra is done. We also investigate the origin of these QPOs from the shock oscillation model. We find that non-satisfaction of Rankine-Hugoniot conditions for non-dissipative shocks and not their resonance oscillations is the cause of the observed type-C QPOs.