Transitions and Origin of the Type-B Quasi-Periodic Oscillation in the Black Hole X-ray Binary MAXI~ J1348--630

TL;DR

This study investigates the origin and transition mechanisms of type-B QPOs in the black hole binary MAXI J1348--630, suggesting a coupled disk-jet system and jet precession as key factors.

Contribution

It provides detailed timing and spectral analysis of QPO transitions, proposing a disk-jet coupling and jet precession as the origin of type-B QPOs, which is a novel insight.

Findings

Type-B QPOs likely originate from jet precession.

Transitions involve changes in Comptonization and corona height.

Type-C QPOs are associated with stronger jets or corona.

Abstract

The fast transitions between different types of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) are generally observed in black hole transient sources (BHTs). We present a detailed study on the timing and spectral properties of the transitions of type-B QPOs in MAXI~J1348--630, observed by \emph{Insight}-HXMT. The fractional rms variability--energy relationship and energy spectra reveal that type-B QPOs probably originate from jet precession. Compared to weak power-law dominated power spectrum, when type-B QPO is present, the corresponding energy spectrum shows an increase in Comptonization component and the need for {\tt\string xillverCp} component, and a slight increase of height of the corona when using {\tt\string relxilllp} model. Therefore, we suggest that a coupled inner disk-jet region is responsible for the observed type-B QPOs transitions. The time scale for the appearance/disappearance of type-B QPOs is either long or short (seconds), which may indicate an instability of disk-jet structure. For these phenomena, we give the hypothesis that the Bardeen-Petterson effect causes disk-jet structure to align with BH spin axis, or that the disappearance of small-scale jets bound by the magnetic flux tubes lead to the disappearance of type-B QPOs. We observed three events regarding the B/C transitions, one of which occurred in a short time from $\sim 9.2$ Hz (C) to $\sim 4.8$ Hz (B). The energy spectral analysis for the other two transitions shows that when type-C QPO is present, the Comptonization flux is higher, the spectrum is harder and the inner radius of disk changes insignificantly. We suggest that type-C QPOs probably originate from relatively stronger jets or corona.