High-energy observations of the state transition of the X-ray nova and black hole candidate XTE J1720-318

Details High-energy observations of the state transition of the X-ray nova and black hole candidate XTE J1720-318 High-energy observations of the state transition of the X-ray nova and black hole candidate XTE J1720-318

2004-07-15

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0407308v2

Astron.Astrophys. 426 (2004) 659-667

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

10 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics

Scientific paper

10.1051/0004-6361:20041292

We report the results of extensive high-energy observations of the X-ray transient and black hole candidate XTE J1720-318 performed with INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton and RXTE. The source, which underwent an X-ray outburst in 2003 January, was observed in February in a spectral state dominated by a soft component with a weak high-energy tail. The XMM-Newton data provided a high column density Nh of 1.2*e22 cm^{-2} which suggests that the source lies at the Galactic Centre distance. The simultaneous RXTE and INTEGRAL Target of Opportunity observations allowed us to measure the weak and steep tail, typical of a black-hole binary in the so-called High/Soft State. We then followed the evolution of the source outburst over several months using the INTEGRAL Galactic Centre survey observations. The source became active again at the end of March: it showed a clear transition towards a much harder state, and then decayed to a quiescent state after April. In the hard state, the source was detected up to 200 keV with a power law index of 1.9 and a peak luminosity of 7*e36 erg s^{-1} in the 20-200 keV band, for an assumed distance of 8 kpc. We conclude that XTE J1720-318 is indeed a new member of the black hole X-ray novae class which populate our galactic bulge and we discuss its properties in the frame of the spectral models used for transient black hole binaries.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

High-energy observations of the state transition of the X-ray nova and black hole candidate XTE J1720-318 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 High-energy observations of the state transition of the X-ray nova and black hole candidate XTE J1720-318, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and High-energy observations of the state transition of the X-ray nova and black hole candidate XTE J1720-318 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-570256