Bibcode
De Marco, B.; Ponti, G.; Muñoz-Darias, T.; Nandra, K.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 454, Issue 3, p.2360-2371
Advertised on:
12
2015
Citations
23
Refereed citations
22
Description
We report on the analysis of hard-state power spectral density function
(PSD) of GX 339-4 down to the soft X-ray band, where the disc
significantly contributes to the total emission. At any luminosity
probed, the disc in the hard state is intrinsically more variable than
in the soft state. However, the fast decrease of disc variability as a
function of luminosity, combined with the increase of disc intensity,
causes a net drop of fractional variability at high luminosities and low
energies, which reminds the well-known behaviour of disc-dominated
energy bands in the soft state. The peak frequency of the high-frequency
Lorentzian (likely corresponding to the high-frequency break seen in
active galactic nuclei, AGN) scales with luminosity, but we do not find
evidence for a linear scaling. In addition, we observe that this
characteristic frequency is energy dependent. We find that the
normalization of the PSD at the peak of the high-frequency Lorentzian
decreases with luminosity at all energies, though in the soft band this
trend is steeper. Together with the frequency shift, this yields
quasi-constant high-frequency (5-20 Hz) fractional rms at high energies,
with less than 10 per cent scatter. This reinforces previous claims
suggesting that the high-frequency PSD solely scales with black hole
mass. On the other hand, this constancy breaks down in the soft band
(where the scatter increases to ˜30 per cent). This is a
consequence of the additional contribution from the disc component, and
resembles the behaviour of optical variability in AGN.
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