Broad-band monitoring tracing the evolution of the jet and disc in the black hole candidate X-ray binary MAXI J1659−152

A. J. van der Horst; P. A. Curran; J. C. A. Miller-Jones; J. D. Linford; J. Gorosabel; D. M. Russell; A. de Ugarte Postigo; A. A. Lundgren; G. B. Taylor; D. Maitra; S. Guziy; T. M. Belloni; C. Kouveliotou; P. G. Jonker; A. Kamble; Z. Paragi; J. Homan; E. Kuulkers; J. Granot; D. Altamirano; M. M. Buxton; A. Castro-Tirado; R. P. Fender; M. A. Garrett; N. Gehrels; D. H. Hartmann; J. A. Kennea; H. A. Krimm; V. Mangano; E. Ramirez-Ruiz; P. Romano; R. A. M. J. Wijers; R. Wijnands; Y. J. Yang

doi:10.1093/mnras/stt1767

Broad-band monitoring tracing the evolution of the jet and disc in the black hole candidate X-ray binary MAXI J1659−152

¹Astronomical Institute, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, NL-1098 XH Amsterdam, the Netherlands
²International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research – Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
³Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, MSC074220, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA
⁴Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, E-18008 Granada, Spain
⁵Unidad Asociada Grupo Ciencia Planetarias UPV/EHU-IAA/CSIC, Departamento de Física Aplicada I, E.T.S. Ingeniería, Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Alameda de Urquijo s/n, E-48013 Bilbao, Spain
⁶Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Alameda de Urquijo 36-5, E-48008 Bilbao, Spain
⁷Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Vía Láctea s/n, E-38205 La Laguna, S/C de Tenerife, Spain
⁸Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, E-38205 La Laguna, S/C de Tenerife, Spain
⁹Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, Juliane Maries Vej 30, D-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
¹⁰Joint ALMA Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Vitacura, Santiago, Chile
¹¹Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
¹²Nikolaev National University, Nikolska 24, Nikolaev 54030, Ukraine
¹³INAF – Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, I-23807 Merate (LC), Italy
¹⁴Space Science Office, ZP12, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812, USA
¹⁵SRON, Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Sorbonnelaan 2, NL-3584 CA Utrecht, the Netherlands
¹⁶Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
¹⁷Department of Astrophysics/IMAPP, Radboud University Nijmegen, PO Box 9010, NL-6500 GL Nijmegen, the Netherlands
¹⁸Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe, Postbus 2, NL-7990 AA Dwingeloo, the Netherlands
¹⁹Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
²⁰European Space Astronomy Centre (ESA/ESAC), Science Operations Department, E-28691 Villanuevadela Cañada (Madrid), Spain
²¹Department of Natural Sciences, The Open University of Israel, PO Box 808, Ra'anana 43537, Israel
²²Astronomy Department, Yale University, PO Box 208101, New Haven, CT 06520-8101, USA
²³School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, Hampshire SO17 1BJ, UK
²⁴Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON), Postbus 2, NL-7990 AA Dwingeloo, the Netherlands
²⁵Leiden Observatory, University of Leiden, Postbus 9513, NL-2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands
²⁶NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
²⁷Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0978, USA
²⁸Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
²⁹Universities Space Research Association, 10211 Wincopin Circle, Suite 500, Columbia, MD 21044, USA
³⁰INAF, Istituto di Astrofysica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica – Palermo, Via U. La Malfa 153, I-90146 Palermo, Italy
³¹Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA

↵★E-mail: a.j.vanderhorst{at}uva.nl

Accepted 2013 September 16.
Received 2013 September 10.
In original form 2013 August 20.
First published online October 15, 2013.

Abstract

MAXI J1659−152 was discovered on 2010 September 25 as a new X-ray transient, initially identified as a gamma-ray burst, but was later shown to be a new X-ray binary with a black hole as the most likely compact object. Dips in the X-ray light curves have revealed that MAXI J1659−152 is the shortest period black hole candidate identified to date. Here we present the results of a large observing campaign at radio, submillimetre, near-infrared (nIR), optical and ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. We have combined this very rich data set with the available X-ray observations to compile a broad-band picture of the evolution of this outburst. We have performed broad-band spectral modelling, demonstrating the presence of a spectral break at radio frequencies and a relationship between the radio spectrum and X-ray states. Also, we have determined physical parameters of the accretion disc and put them into context with respect to the other parameters of the binary system. Finally, we have investigated the radio–X-ray and nIR/optical/UV–X-ray correlations up to ∼3 yr after the outburst onset to examine the link between the jet and the accretion disc, and found that there is no significant jet contribution to the nIR emission when the source is in the soft or intermediate X-ray spectral state, consistent with our detection of the jet break at radio frequencies during these states.