A Hidden Pulse: Uncovering a New Timing Signal in Cygnus X-1 with AstroSat

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Hauptverfasser: Rout, Sandeep K., Garcia, Federico, Mendez, Mariano, Kumar, Abhay, Vadawale, Santosh, Russell, David M., Jin, Pei
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Rout, Sandeep K.
Garcia, Federico
Mendez, Mariano
Kumar, Abhay
Vadawale, Santosh
Russell, David M.
Jin, Pei
author_facet Rout, Sandeep K.
Garcia, Federico
Mendez, Mariano
Kumar, Abhay
Vadawale, Santosh
Russell, David M.
Jin, Pei
contents The study of fast variability properties in X-ray binaries advances our understanding of the physical processes and geometric properties of the accretion flow around the compact object. In this work, we study the evolution of the timing properties of Cygnus X-1 with AstroSat/LAXPC, during the transition of the source from the hard to soft state in 2017. We use a novel frequency-segmented technique to fit simultaneously the cross spectra and parts of the power spectra and coherence function with a multi-Lorentzian model and predict the phase-lags and the complementary parts of the power spectra and coherence function. We study the evolution of the frequency and power of the main variability components that are present throughout all the states. In particular, we identify previously undetected variability components, one of which manifests as a narrow dip in the coherence function and a broad drop in the phase-lag spectrum at the same frequency. This dip in coherence, which we detected for the first time in Cygnus X-1 at energies above 3 keV, appears in a state in which the source shows high-amplitude radio variability and significant hard X-ray polarization. While the contribution of the compact jet in X-rays is debated in the literature, this study provides a new avenue for investigating jet properties as well as the geometry of the Comptonizing medium.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_13884
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Hidden Pulse: Uncovering a New Timing Signal in Cygnus X-1 with AstroSat
Rout, Sandeep K.
Garcia, Federico
Mendez, Mariano
Kumar, Abhay
Vadawale, Santosh
Russell, David M.
Jin, Pei
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The study of fast variability properties in X-ray binaries advances our understanding of the physical processes and geometric properties of the accretion flow around the compact object. In this work, we study the evolution of the timing properties of Cygnus X-1 with AstroSat/LAXPC, during the transition of the source from the hard to soft state in 2017. We use a novel frequency-segmented technique to fit simultaneously the cross spectra and parts of the power spectra and coherence function with a multi-Lorentzian model and predict the phase-lags and the complementary parts of the power spectra and coherence function. We study the evolution of the frequency and power of the main variability components that are present throughout all the states. In particular, we identify previously undetected variability components, one of which manifests as a narrow dip in the coherence function and a broad drop in the phase-lag spectrum at the same frequency. This dip in coherence, which we detected for the first time in Cygnus X-1 at energies above 3 keV, appears in a state in which the source shows high-amplitude radio variability and significant hard X-ray polarization. While the contribution of the compact jet in X-rays is debated in the literature, this study provides a new avenue for investigating jet properties as well as the geometry of the Comptonizing medium.
title A Hidden Pulse: Uncovering a New Timing Signal in Cygnus X-1 with AstroSat
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.13884