In accreting black hole and neutron star binaries, QPOs and broad Fe emissionlines are both thought to be incisive diagnostics of the inner disk, and caneven be used to constrain black hole spin parameters. We have discovered aconnection between Fe line strength and QPO phase in RXTE observations of GRS1915+105. This connection clearly ties Fe lines to radii less than 100 Rschw,where relativistic skewing is inevitable. Moreover, for a known mass, theconnection gives two measures of radius; over-constraining radii in this waywill enable mapping of the inner disk and strong tests of accretion flow modelsand general relativistic effects. We request a 45 ksec TOO observation of GRS1915+105 to study this connection at CCD resolution.
Instrument
EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2006-04-09T13:48:22Z/2006-04-10T03:03:59Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Prof Jon Miller, 2007, 'The Relativistic Iron Emission Line - QPO Connection in GRS 1915+105', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-ib7vbsi
