An Insight-HXMT View of the mHz Quasi-regular Modulation Phenomenon in the Black Hole X-Ray Binary 4U 1630-47

Here we report the spectral-timing results of the black hole X-ray binary 4U 1630-47 during its 2021 outburst using observations from the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT). Type C quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in similar to 1.6-4.2 Hz and quasi-regular modulation (QRM) near 60 mHz are detected during the outburst. The mHz QRM has a fractional rms of similar to 10%-16% in the 8-35 keV energy band with a Q factor (frequency/width) of similar to 2-4. Benefiting from the broad energy band of Insight-HXMT, we study the energy dependence of the similar to 60 mHz QRM in 1-100 keV for the first time. We find that the fractional rms of the mHz QRM increases with photon energy, while the time lags of the mHz QRM are soft and decrease with photon energy. Fast recurrence of the mHz QRM, in a timescale of less than 1 hr, has been observed during the outburst. During this period, the corresponding energy spectra moderately change when the source transitions from the QRM state to the non-QRM state. The QRM phenomenon also shows a dependence with the accretion rate. We suggest that the QRM could be caused by an unknown accretion instability aroused from the corona.

Automated summary

In this study, we report the spectral-timing results of the black hole X-ray binary 4U 1630-47 during its 2021 outburst using observations from the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope. We detected Type C quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) and quasi-regular modulation (QRM) near 60 mHz, and found that the properties of the QRM phenomenon are energy-dependent and also related to the accretion rate.