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Title:
An Optical Rms-flux Relation And Non-linear Variability In X-ray Binaries
Authors:
Gandhi, Poshak
Affiliation:
AA(RIKEN, Japan)
Publication:
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, #301.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.714
Publication Date:
05/2009
Origin:
AAS
Bibliographic Code:
2009AAS...21430102G

Abstract

Recent optical timing observations have uncovered fast aperiodic fluctuations in at least three Galactic black hole X-ray binaries: XTE J1118+480, GX 339-4 and SWIFT J1753.5-0127. The correlation of the optical and X-ray lightcurves in the low/hard state shows complex patterns with characteristic peaks and dips on short (150 ms - 10 s) timescales. Reprocessing can be ruled out as the origin of the optical power. Instead, the rapid variability may be due to synchrotron emission from within the inner accretion flow regions and jet, though details of the underlying physical processes remain to be understood. I now show that the optical variability must result from a coupling of perturbations over a wide range of radii and timescales. This is because the optical lightcurves are intrinsically non-stationary and non-linear, in the sense that the absolute variability rms linearly increases with source flux, just as has been found for X-ray lightcurves by Uttley and collaborators. This optical rms-flux relation provides new constraints to connect the disk with the inner hot flow and jet in the low/hard state. Various physical models including propagating perturbations as well as large-scale inter-connected magnetic fields are discussed.
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