1. INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton and Rossi-XTE Observations of the State Transition of the X-ray Transient and Black Hole Candidate XTE J1720-318
- Author
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Bel, M. C., Goldwurm, A., Rodriguez, J., Goldoni, P., Corbel, S., Sizun, P., Parmar, A. N., Kuulkers, E., Capitanio, F., Melania Del Santo, Tarana, A., Ubertini, P., Roques, J. P., Bouchot, L., Farinelli, R., Frontera, F., Westergaard, N. J., Département d'Astrophysique, de physique des Particules, de physique Nucléaire et de l'Instrumentation Associée (DAPNIA), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Research and Scientific Support Department (ESTEC), European Space Agency (ESA), Instituto di Astrofisica (IASF), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Centre d'étude spatiale des rayonnements (CESR), Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Dipartimento di Fisica [Ferrara], Università degli Studi di Ferrara (UniFE), Danish Space Research Institute (DSRI), Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA), National Research Council of Italy | Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Università degli Studi di Ferrara = University of Ferrara (UniFE), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), and Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)
- Subjects
X-rays binaries ,[PHYS.ASTR.CO]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.CO] ,stars: individual: XTE J1720-318 ,accretion ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics (astro-ph) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,gamma-rays: observations ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Black hole physics ,conference paper ESA Universe ,Astrophysics - Abstract
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 outburst in January 2003, 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 Center 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 could follow the evolution of the source outburst over several months using the INTEGRAL Galactic Center survey observations. The source regained activity at the end of March: it showed a clear transition towards a much harder state, and then decayed to a quiescent state in summer. In the hard state, the source was detected up to 200 keV with a typical power law index of 1.8 and a peak luminosity of 7.5*e36 ergs s^{-1} in the 2-100 keV band, for an assumed distance of 8 kpc. We conclude that XTE J1720-318 is indeed representative of the class of the black hole X-ray novae which populate our Galactic bulge and we discuss its properties in the frame of the spectral models used for transient black hole binaries., avril 2004
- Published
- 2004