A possible origin of kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations in low-mass X-ray binaries

Shoji Kato, Mami Machida

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A possible origin of kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in low-mass X-ray binaries is proposed. Recent numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations of accretion disks with turbulent magnetic fields of magneto-rotational instability definitely show the presence of two-Armed spiral structure in the quasi-steady state of accretion disks. In such deformed disks, two-Armed ($m=2$) c-mode ($n=1$) oscillations are excited by wave-wave resonant instability. Among these excited oscillations, the fundamental in the radial direction ($n{\rm r}=0$) will be the higher kHz QPO of twin QPOs, and the first overtone ($n{\rm r}=1$) in the radial direction will be the lower kHz QPO of the twin. A possible cause of the twin high-frequency QPOs in black hole X-ray binaries is also discussed in the final section.

Original languageEnglish
Article number38
JournalPublications of the Astronomical Society of Japan
Volume72
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 1 2020
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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