Wijands, Rudy and Homan, Jeroen and van der Klis, Michiel and Kuulkers, Erik and van Paradijs, Jan and Lewin, Walter H. G. and Lamb, Frederick K. and Psaltis, Dimitrios and Vaughan, Brian (1998) Discovery of kHz quasi-periodic oscillations in the Z source Cygnus X-2. Astrophysical Journal Letters, 493 (2). L87-L90. ISSN 2041-8205. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:WIJapj98
- Published Version
See Usage Policy.
Use this Persistent URL to link to this item: http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:WIJapj98
During observations with the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer from 1997 June 31 to July 3 we discovered two simultaneous kHz quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) near 500 and 860 Hz in the low-mass X-ray binary and Z source Cygnus X-2. In the X-ray color-color diagram and hardness intensity diagram (HID), a clear Z track was traced out, which shifted in the HID within 1 day to higher count rates at the end of the observation. Z track shifts are well known to occur in Cyg X-2; our observation for the first time catches the source in the act. A single kHz QPO peak was detected at the left end of the horizontal branch (HB) of the Z track, with a frequency of 731 +/- 20 Hz and an amplitude of 4.7(-0.6)(+0.8)% rms in the energy band 5.0-60 keV. Further to the right on the HB, at somewhat higher count rates, an additional peak at 532 +/- 43 Hz was detected with an rms amplitude of 3.0(-0.7)(+1.0). When the source moved down the HB, thus when the inferred mass accretion rate increased, the frequency of the higher frequency QPO increased to 839 +/- 13 Hz, and its amplitude decreased to 3.5(-0.3)(+0.4)% rms. The higher frequency QPO was also detected on the upper normal branch (NB) with an rms amplitude of 1.8(-0.4)(+0.6)% and a frequency of 1007 +/- 15 Hz; its peak width did not show a clear correlation with inferred mass accretion rate. The lower frequency QPO was most of the time undetectable, with typical upper limits of 2% rms; no conclusion on how this QPO behaved with mass accretion rate can be drawn. If the peak separation between the QPOs is the neutron star spin frequency (as required in some beat-frequency models), then the neutron star spin period is 2.9 +/- 0.2 ms (346 +/- 29 Hz). This discovery makes Cyg X-2 the fourth Z source that displays kHz QPOs. The properties of the kHz QPOs in Cyg X-2 are similar to those of other Z sources. Simultaneous with the kHz QPOs, the well-known horizontal-branch QPOs (HBOs) were visible in the power spectra. At the left end of the HB, the second harmonic of the HBO was also detected. We also detected six small X-ray bursts. No periodic oscillations or QPOs were detected in any of them, with typical upper limits of 6%-8% rms.
|Additional Information:||© 1998. The American Astronomical Society. Received 1997 October 6; accepted 1997 November 18; published 1998 January 14. This work was supported in part by the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy (ASTRON) grant 781-76-017 and by NSF grant AST 96-18524. B.V. (NAG 5-3340), F.K.L (NAG 5-2925), J.v.P. (NAG 5-3269, NAG 5-3271), and W.H.G.L. acknowledge support from the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We thank the RXTE Science Operations Facility, and especially John Cannizzo, for rapidly providing the real-time data used in this analysis.|
|Subject Keywords:||accretion, accretion disks; stars, individual (Cygnus X-2); stars, neutron; X-rays, stars|
|Usage Policy:||No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.|
|Deposited By:||Archive Administrator|
|Deposited On:||15 Dec 2008 23:29|
|Last Modified:||24 Feb 2015 20:26|
Repository Staff Only: item control page