Broadband variability study of MAXI J1631-479 in its Hard-Intermediate State observed with Insight-HXMT

TL;DR

This study analyzes the broadband timing variability of the black hole transient MAXI J1631-479 during its 2019 outburst, revealing energy-dependent QPOs and noise characteristics up to 100 keV using Insight-HXMT data.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed energy-resolved broadband timing analysis of MAXI J1631-479 across its state transition with high-energy coverage.

Findings

QPOs observed between 4.9 and 6.5 Hz up to 100 keV

QPO fractional rms increases with energy up to ~10 keV

Broadband noise diminishes above ~30 keV

Abstract

We report the energy-resolved broadband timing analysis of the black hole X-ray transient MAXI J1631-479 during its 2019 outburst from February 11 to April 9, using data from the Insight-Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT), which caught the source from its hard intermediate state to the soft state. Thanks to the large effective area of Insight-HXMT at high energies, we are able to present the energy dependence of fast variability up to ~100 keV. Type-C quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) with frequency varying between 4.9 Hz and 6.5 Hz are observed in the 1-100 keV energy band. While the QPO fractional rms increases with photon energy from 1 keV to ~10 keV and remains more or less constant from ~10 keV to ~100 keV, the rms of the flat-top noise first increases from 1 keV to ~8 keV then drops to less than 0.1% above ~30 keV. We suggest that the disappearance of the broadband variability above 30 keV could be caused by the non-thermal acceleration in the Comptonizing plasma. At the same time, the QPOs could be produced by the precession of either a small-scale jet or a hot inner flow model.