Bibcode
Gandhi, Poshak; Durant, M.; Fabian, A. C.; Malzac, J.; Miller, J. M.; Shahbaz, T.; Dhillon, V. S.; Marsh, T. R.; Spruit, H. C.; Makishima, K.
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #11, #43.14; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.733
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2
2010
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Description
We are uncovering significant optical variability in low/hard state
observations of several X-ray binaries on the fastest time-scales of
just tens of milliseconds typically probed with modern rapid imaging
cameras. The optical light curves are remarkable in that they display
properties very characteristic of X-ray variations: 1) power spectra
with band-limited, red noise over broad time ranges of 10 ms - 1000 s,
and in some cases, a low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillation; 2) an
instantaneous variability amplitude linearly scaling with source flux;
and, 3) log-normal distributions of fluxes. Aperiodic optical
variability components can dominate over simple linear X-ray
reprocessing expectations, and are much faster than viscous time-scales
of the outer accretion disk or flow. Cross-correlated optical vs. X-ray
time delays not only constrain emission mechanisms, but can also be used
to probe characteristic size scales of the physical components (jet,
corona), and to understand how they are coupled. Rapid, multiwavelength
timing studies are thus opening a new window on the hearts of accreting
sources, though the broad-band spectral plus timing properties remain to
be unified consistently. I will briefly review recent results on rapid
optical variability, including our new data on black hole and neutron
star binary systems. The fact that the sources were all in typical
low/hard states (with relatively-bright optical counterparts) suggests
that correlated optical/X-ray activity may be a general feature, waiting
to be uncovered in more systems. The continuance of RXTE is vital for
such work.