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Low Luminosity States of the Black Hole Candidate GX 339-4: ASCA and Simultaneous Radio/RXTE Observations - 1We discuss a series of observations of the black hole candidate GX 339-4 in low luminosity, spectrally hard states. We present spectral analysis of three separate archival Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (ASCA) data sets and eight separate Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) data sets. Three of the RXTE observations were strictly simultaneous with 843 Mega Hertz and 8.3-9.1 Giga Hertz radio observations. All of these observations have (3-9 keV) flux approximately less than 10(exp-9) ergs s(exp-1) CM(exp -2). The ASCA data show evidence for an approximately 6.4 keV Fe line with equivalent width approximately 40 eV, as well as evidence for a soft excess that is well-modeled by a power law plus a multicolor blackbody spectrum with peak temperature approximately equals 150-200 eV. The RXTE data sets also show evidence of an Fe line with equivalent widths approximately equal to 20-1OO eV. Reflection models show a hardening of the RXTE spectra with decreasing X-ray flux; however, these models do not exhibit evidence of a correlation between the photon index of the incident power law flux and the solid angle subtended by the reflector. 'Sphere+disk' Comptonization models and Advection Dominated Accretion Flow (ADAF) models also provide reasonable descriptions of the RXTE data. The former models yield coronal temperatures in the range 20-50 keV and optical depths of r approximately equal to 3. The model fits to the X-ray data, however, do not simultaneously explain the observed radio properties. The most likely source of the radio flux is synchrotron emission from an extended outflow of extent greater than O(10 (exp7) GM/c2).
Document ID
19990068019
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Wilms, Joern
(Tuebingen Univ. Germany)
Nowak, Michael A.
(Colorado Univ. Boulder, CO United States)
Dove, James B.
(Colorado Univ. Boulder, CO United States)
Fender, Robert P.
(Amsterdam Univ. Netherlands)
DiMatteo, Tiziana
(Institute of Astronomy Cambridge, United Kingdom)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
October 12, 1998
Subject Category
Astronomy
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG5-4731
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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