Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1996-07-09
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
7 pages, 4 figures LaTeX, ApJ aas2pp4 style, to appear in ApJ Letters
Scientific paper
10.1086/310251
We report the discovery, with NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), of the first sub-millisecond oscillation found in a celestial X-ray source. The quasi-periodic oscillations (QPO) come from Sco X-1 and have a frequency of approximately 1100 Hz, amplitudes of 0.6-1.2% (rms) and are relatively coherent, with Q up to ~10^2. The frequency of the QPO increases with accretion rate, rising from 1050 to 1130 Hz when the source moves from top to bottom along the normal branch in the X-ray color-color diagram, and shows a strong, approximately linear correlation with the frequency of the well-known 6-20 Hz normal/flaring branch QPO. We also report the discovery of QPO with a frequency near 800 Hz that occurs, simultaneously with the 1100 Hz QPO, in the upper normal branch. We discuss several possible interpretations, one involving a millisecond X-ray pulsar whose pulses we see reflected off accretion-flow inhomogeneities. Finally, we report the discovery of ~45 Hz QPO, most prominent in the middle of the normal branch, which might be magnetospheric beat-frequency QPO.
Jahoda Keith
Lewin Walter H. G.
Morgan Edward Harrington
Paradijs Jan van
Swank Jean H.
No associations
LandOfFree
Discovery of Sub-Millisecond Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the X-Ray Flux of Scorpius X-1 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Discovery of Sub-Millisecond Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the X-Ray Flux of Scorpius X-1, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Discovery of Sub-Millisecond Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in the X-Ray Flux of Scorpius X-1 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-526433