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Gamma-ray Spectral Characteristics of Thermal and Non-thermal Emission from Three Black HolesCygnus X-1 and the gamma-ray transients GROJ0422+32 and GROJ1719-24 displayed similar spectral properties when they underwent transitions between the high and low gamma-ray (30 keV to few MeV) intensity states. When these sources were in the high (gamma)-ray intensity state ((gamma)2, for Cygnus X-l), their spectra featured two components: a Comptonized shape below 200-300 keV with a soft power-law tail (photon index >= 3) that extended to ~1 MeV or beyond. When the sources were in the low-intensity state ((gamma)0, for Cygnus X-l), the Comptonized spectral shape below 200 keV typically vanished and the entire spectrum from 30 keV to ~1 MeV can be characterized by a single power law with a relatively harder photon index ~2-2.7. Consequently the high- and low-intensity gamma-ray spectra intersect, generally in the ~400 KeV - ~1 MeV range, in contrast to the spectral pivoting seen previously at lower (~10 keV) energies. The presence of the power-law component in both the high- and low-intensity gammaray spectra strongly suggests that the non-thermal process is likely to be at work in both the high and the low-intensity situations. We have suggested a possible scenario (Ling & Wheaton, 2003), by combining the ADAF model of Esin et al. (1998) with a separate jet region that produces the non-thermal gamma-ray emission, and which explains the state transitions. Such a scenario will be discussed in the context of the observational evidence, summarized above, from the database produced by EBOP, JPL's BATSE earth occultation analysis system.
Document ID
20070022510
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Ling, James C.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Wheaton, William A.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
June 7, 2004
Subject Category
Astronomy
Meeting Information
Meeting: 5th Internatioanl Microquasar Workshop
Location: Beijing
Country: China
Start Date: June 5, 2004
End Date: June 13, 2004
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
black holes
gamma ray

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