Testing propagating mass accretion rate fluctuations model PROPFLUC on Black Hole X-ray Binaries
Abstract
Over the past 20 years, a consistent phenomenology has been established to describe the variability properties of black hole X-ray binaries. However, the physics behind the observational data is still poorly understood. The recently proposed model PROPFLUC assumes a truncated disc/hot inner flow geometry, with mass accretion rate fluctuations propagating through a precessing inner flow. These two processes give rise respectively to broad band variability and a quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) on the precession frequency. We recently applied systematically for the first time PROPFLUC on a black hole candidate (MAXI J1543-564) in order to compare the results of phenomenological and physical modelling of the source power spectrum and to give a physical interpretation of the rising phase of the source outburst. I will present the results of this study and describe our work to go beyond power spectral fitting by also modelling the cross-spectral amplitudes and phase lags between different energy bands. We are testing the model by comparing with Swift data from the black hole binary MAXI J1659-152. In particular, we are exploiting the low energy coverage of Swift in order to test the hypothesis that fluctuations are generated in the disc before propagating into the inner flow.
- Publication:
-
The Extremes of Black Hole Accretion
- Pub Date:
- July 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015ebha.confE..54R