# ON GRAVITOMAGNETIC PRECESSION AND QPO IN BLACK HOLE CANDIDATES

## 1 Background

### 1.1 X-ray Binaries

X-ray binaries are among the brightest X-ray sources in the sky. An X-ray binary consists of a compact object (neutron star or black hole) and a normal companion star, orbiting around each other. At certain stage of the binary evolution, the separation of the two stars becomes so close that material from the upper atmosphere of the companion star begins to flow toward the compact object under the influence of the latter’s gravity. This process is known as mass accretion due to “Roche-lobe overflow”. The accreted matter, carrying large amount of angular momentum from the orbital motion, circulates around the compact object and forms an accretion disk. As the matter spirals in toward the compact object, due to angular momentum losses from viscous processes, its gravitational energy is converted into heat. Depending upon the mass accretion rate, the temperature of the inner accretion disk can reach more than one million degrees so that X-rays are produced. Therefore, the X-ray observation of such sources provides a valuable tool to probe regions very close to the compact object, where relativistic effects are strong thus important. It should be noted, however, that Roche-lobe overflow does not always occur. For some sources (especially those with a massive companion star), the accretion process may simply involve the capture of stellar wind from the companion star by the compact object. A small accretion disk can still form in such “wind-fed” systems, due to any residual angular momentum of the captured matter.

### 1.2 Black Hole Binaries

In some cases, the companion star is visible optically. By carefully monitoring its orbital motion, we can derive the so-called mass function, which is defined as

$$f_c(M)\frac{M_x^3\mathrm{sin}^3i}{(M_x+M_c)^2}=\frac{P_{orb}K_c^3}{2\pi G},$$
(1)   
where $`M_x`$ and $`M_c`$ are the mass of the compact object and its companion star respectively, $`i`$ is the inclination angle of the binary orbit with respect to the line-of-sight (with $`i=0`$ for face-on systems), $`P_{orb}`$ is the binary orbital period, and $`K_c`$ is the semi-amplitude of the optical radial velocity curve. Both $`M_x/M_c`$ and $`i`$ can be further constrained by modeling ellipsoidal variation in the optical light curves , and $`M_c`$ by the spectral type of the companion star. For roughly a dozen X-ray binaries, $`M_x`$ is estimated to be greater than $`3M_{}`$, which is considered to be a reliable upper limit to the mass of a neutron star , for any values of $`M_c`$ and $`i`$ within their respective allowed parameter spaces. These sources are, therefore, good candidates for black hole binaries (BHBs). Table 1 lists all such systems known to date. It is clear from Eq. 1 that without making any assumptions the mass function sets a firm lower limit to the mass of the compact object. Therefore, those with the measured mass function greater than $`3M_{}`$ are the best BHB candidates (BHBCs).

### 1.3 Spin of Black Hole

BHBs are thought to be formed by the core collapse of very massive stars which are usually fast rotators. The conservation of stellar angular momentum would lead to extremely rotating black holes, if the progenitor stars behave like rigid bodies. In reality, however, the stellar core and envelop are likely decoupled, with the ejected envelop carrying away significant amount of angular momentum. There may also be other processes that can cause additional loss of angular momentum during the formation. Therefore, while we expect that all black holes rotate to some extent, it is not clear whether any can be formed rapidly spinning.

In a binary configuration, the process of mass accretion can, in principle, result in the accretion of angular momentum by the black hole and, thus, the hole can be subsequently spun up . However, most BHBs are transient sources (see Table 1, except for the top three sources) with a very low duty cycle of X-ray outbursts (when the mass accretion rate surges by orders of magnitude), so the lifetime-averaged accretion rate is extremely low. Consequently, the accretion-induced spin-up of black holes is probably not effective in these sources (unlike in active galactic nuclei ). Other theoretical considerations, such as the presence of sub-Keplerian accretion flows in the vicinity of black holes , would only make the mechanism less effective.

Recently, evidence has been found for the presence of rapidly spinning black holes in GRO J1655-40 and GRS 1915+105 , the only two Galactic sources that occasionally display spectacular radio jets with superluminal motion, analogous to radio-loud quasars, which is why they are sometimes referred to as “microquasars”. Also discovered are slowly or moderately spinning black holes in several “normal” BHBCs. Not only has the study raised questions about the formation of rapidly rotating black holes, it has also brought into new focus possible observational consequences of black hole rotation in BHBs. Subsequently, a lot of excitement has been generated about the prospect of using BHBs to probe relativistic effects in strong gravity regime .

## 2 GRO J1655-40: A Test Case

### 2.1 Existence of A Spinning Black Hole?

The binary parameters are known to such a high accuracy for GRO J1655-40 (with uncertainties typically only a few percent; see Table 1) that makes the interpretation of the X-ray data for this source much more reliable than for any other sources. Despite being a microquasar, GRO J1655-40 appears as a normal BHBC in terms of the observed spectral properties. The X-ray spectrum can be well described by an ultra-soft component at low energies and a power law at high energies , which is canonical for BHBCs . The ultra-soft component is generally attributed to the emission from the hot inner region of an accretion disk, while the power-law tail is thought to be the product of soft photons being Compton upscattered by energetic electrons in the region.

In practice, the ultra-soft component is often modeled by a multi-color blackbody . In this model, the accretion disk is assumed to be geometrically thin, optically thick (i.e., the standard $`\alpha `$ disk ). The emission from such a disk is a blackbody, but the temperature of the blackbody is a function of the distance to the black hole. There are only two free parameters in the model: the radial distance of the inner disk edge to the black hole and the effective temperature at the inner edge, once the distance of the source and the inclination angle of the disk (which is usually assumed to be equal to the inclination of the binary orbit) are known. The model has worked remarkably well for a number of BHBCs (see a review by Tanaka and Lewin ). One of the most interesting results is that the inferred radius of the inner disk edge remains fairly stable and constant as the observed fluxes vary greatly , strongly implying that the last (marginally) stable orbit is reached.

Since the model assumes Newtonian gravity, appropriate corrections need to be made to include relativistic effects . Also, gravitational shift and gravitational focusing cause both the observed color temperature and integrated flux to deviate from the local values, depending on the inclination angle of the disk and the spin of the black hole . Furthermore, in the hot inner region of an accretion disk, electron scattering is likely to dominate over free-free absorption, so the inner disk actually radiates approximately as a “diluted” blackbody with the peak effective temperature lower than that derived from fitting the spectrum . Unfortunately, this “color correction factor” is still poorly determined, although it appears to depend only weakly on the properties of the black hole, mass accretion rate, or the location on the disk .

Taking into account these factors, we found that for several BHBCs the inferred radius of the inner disk edge is consistent with that of the last stable orbit around non-rotating black holes . When we applied the same model to the spectrum of GRO J1655-40 during an outburst, however, we found that the inner edge of the disk is only about 1.2 Schwarzschild radii away from the black hole , which is, of course, impossible if the black hole does not rotate. Therefore, we were forced to conclude that GRO J1655-40 contains a rapidly spinning black hole. The spin of the black hole was determined to be $``$93% maximal rotation for this source.

The “ordinary” nature of GRO J1655-40 as a BHBC (in terms of its spectral properties) is strongly supported by recent observations with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The source was monitored by RXTE extensively throughout its recent (1996–1997) X-ray outburst. From these observations, Sobczak et al.  found that the observed X-ray spectrum can be well characterized by the canonical spectral shape of BHBCs (soft multi-color blackbody plus hard power law) throughout the entire period, which confirms the previous findings  (although the actual values of the parameters differ slightly). In addition, they found that the inferred radius of the inner disk edge remained roughly constant (with occasional low points) as the X-ray flux varied by a factor of 3–4, similar to normal BHBCs .

However, these authors mistakenly concluded that the corrections for relativistic effects are negligible for this source (actually they mis-quoted Zhang et al.  on this issue). As a matter of fact, the general relativistic effects are very significant in this case . In particular, the inner boundary condition (i.e., torque free at the last stable orbit) can drastically change the temperature profile of the inner portion of the accretion disk under Newtonian gravity . For GRO J1655-40, the correction amounts to a factor of $``$2, after taking into account all the effects. Consequently, the radius of the inner disk edge in Sobczak et al. was over-estimated by the same amount .

Our interpretation of the same data would, therefore, put the last stable orbit roughly at 1.5 Schwarzschild radii, which confirms the need for the presence of a rapidly rotating black hole in this system (although the spin of the black hole is $``$78% maximal rotation in this case). We take note of occasional low values of the inferred radius when the measured X-ray luminosity is relatively high . We interpret them as the times when the adopted spectral model breaks down. It is likely that when accretion rate is high the inner portion of a standard $`\alpha `$ disk may become unstable to radiation pressure and fragmentation . During the outburst, GRO J1655-40 might be situated close to the critical point for such instability, as in the case of Cyg X-1 (A. Zdziarski, private communication).

In contrast, Sobczak et al. proposed that the last stable orbit was reached by the accretion disk only at the smallest radius (i.e., the lowest point) obtained from their spectral analysis. To explain why the inner edge of the disk stays far away from the last stable orbit during nearly the entire outburst, they invoked strong radiation drag. Intuitively, however, the radiation drag should be stronger in the higher luminosity state (when the “low points” occur), which would be opposite to their line of arguments. Moreover, it seems unlikely that the radiation drag is capable of significantly affecting gas dynamics in an optically thick disk (which is the most fundamental assumption in the model), since any external radiation fields (if present) can hardly penetrate the surface of the disk and the internal emission percolates through the surface preferentially in the direction perpendicular to the thin disk. Finally, from a practical point of view, it seems risky to base the entire argument on a single data point which is barely allowed physically , especially considering the fact that not all the “low points” reach the same level.

In summary, while further studies are required to reveal important details about accretion processes in BHBCs, it seems highly plausible, as suggested by observations , that during an X-ray outburst the accretion disk is of the standard form  in transient BHBCs and the inner disk edge reaches and remains at the last stable orbit. GRO J1655-40 is no exception. Quantitative modeling of its X-ray spectrum has led to the conclusion that a rapidly rotating black hole is likely to be present in this source.

### 2.2 Gravitomagnetic Precession

A natural consequence of curved spacetime in the vicinity of a spinning black hole is the gravitomagnetic precession of orbits that are tilted with respect to the equatorial plane perpendicular to the spin axis . For circular orbits, which are probably most relevant to accretion processes in X-ray binaries, the precession frequency can be expressed as $`\nu _{FD}=\nu _\theta \mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }/2\pi `$, where $`\nu _\theta `$ is the orbital frequency of the polar (or $`\theta `$) motion, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the angle by which the line of nodes of a circular orbit are dragged during each orbital period. Note that this definition is slightly different form the one adopted by Cui et al. . As correctly pointed out by Merloni et al. , with the new definition, $`\nu _{FD}`$ approaches the rotation frequency of the black hole at the event horizon, which is physically expected. Fig. 1 shows $`\nu _{FD}`$ as a function of black hole spin. Comparing it with Fig. 1 of Cui et al. , we find that, as expected, the difference becomes significant only in the case of extremely spinning black holes when the last stable orbit approaches the event horizon. Therefore, the results of Cui et al.  hardly change, even for microquasars, neither do any of the conclusions that they reached (see also discussion in the following section).

### 2.3 “Stable” QPOs

Quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) have been observed in the X-ray light curves of BHBCs over a wide frequency range, from mHz to roughly a few hundred Hz (reviews by van der Klis  and Cui ). While it is clear that no single process can account for all QPOs, the origins of QPOs are not known.

One type of QPOs in BHBCs is of particular interest here. Such QPO was first reliably established in GRS 1915+105 with the detection of a 67 Hz QPO . One unique characteristic of this QPO is the stability of its frequency against any variation in the X-ray flux. The QPO appears to represent a transient event, and seems to be present only in certain spectral states. Shortly after this discovery, a similar signal was detected at $``$300 Hz for GRO J1655-40 , only when the X-ray luminosity was relatively high  (i.e., at the “low points”, as discussed in § 2.1). We subsequently proposed that these “stable” QPOs are perhaps the observational manifestation of gravitomagnetic precession of accreted, orbiting matter around spinning black holes .

To facilitate comparison with observations, we have computed the expected gravitomagnetic precession frequency of a disk annulus at which the effective disk temperature peaks. The results are plotted in Fig. 2, as a function of black hole spin for three values of black hole mass. Comparing this figure to Fig. 2 of Cui et al. , we find, again as expected, significant difference exists only for large (and positive) black hole spin. Note that the results depend little on the value of Q , which is a constant of motion that specifies the tilt of precessing orbits .

For GRO J1655-40 (where $`M_{bh}=7M_{}`$), the spin of the black hole would be about 97% maximal rotation were the observed 300 Hz QPO to be attributed to the gravitomagnetic precession (as shown in Fig. 2). This result assumes that the QPO originates in the modulation of the X-ray emission from the disk, which does not necessarily have to be the case, as will be discussed in § 4.3. To derive a lower limit to the black hole spin, we computed the frequency of gravitomagnetic precession right at the last stable orbit, as a function of the spin, and set the result equal to the QPO frequency. We found that in this case the spin would be $``$87% maximal rotation. The results are consistent with those obtained spectroscopically (see also Fig. 3).

## 3 Application to Other Sources

Attempts have been made to apply the model to QPOs observed in “normal” BHBCs . The closest examples are perhaps the so-called “very-high-state” QPOs that were observed only twice, in GX 339-4  ($``$6 Hz) and GS 1124-68  (5–8 Hz), in a high luminosity state (i.e., the very-high state). The frequency of such QPOs is fairly stable against flux variation, and any change in the QPO frequency can be explain by the variation in radiation pressure . The low values of the QPO frequency would imply the presence of only slowly rotating black holes in these sources were these QPOs to be produced by the gravitomagnetic precession of accreted matter. This would in turn support the speculation that the relativistic jets observed in microquasars might somehow related to the spin of black holes .

Similar QPOs have also been observed in GS 1124-68  and Cyg X-1  during the transition between the low and high state. However, in these cases, the situation is much more complicated and, thus, the interpretation is much more uncertain, because of the variable nature of the sources and the transient nature of the QPO phenomenon in general . For a particular source, a different set of QPOs are often present at different times (or fluxes). It is, therefore, difficult to associate one QPO (if any) with the gravitomagnetic precession of accreted matter. For instance, a lower-frequency QPO (6–8 Hz) was often present in GRO J1655-40 during the same outburst when the 300 Hz QPO was discovered . To make further progress, an systematic effort is imperative to reliably characterize and classify QPOs in BHBCs.

## 4 Unsettled Issues

### 4.1 Origin of Tilted Orbits

Accreted matter must be in a non-equatorial orbit, with respect to the spin axis of the black hole, in order for the orbit to undergo gravitomagnetic precession. In principle, such orbits could be produced during the formation of a black hole binary, due to the misalignment of the spin axis of the black hole with the axis of the binary motion .

If mass accretion proceeds through a flat viscous disk, the disk can still be warped, due to irradiation by a central X-ray source . However, in this case, differential gravitomagnetic precession generates twists in the disk and the inner region of the disk tends to gradually realign with the equatorial plane due to the viscous torque . Once the realignment takes place, gravitomagnetic precession modes are damped out and, thus, the QPO should simply disappear. On the other hand, this process can help explain why the QPOs seem to be present only during transitional or unstable periods, when the inner region of the disk experiences significant changes.

As mentioned in § 2.1, the inner portion of the disk may become unstable , when the accretion rate is relatively high. Once this occurs, the disk might become fragmented. The gravitomagnetic precession of the fragments is probably only weakly damped, so it might be capable of producing the observed QPOs.

### 4.2 Excitation of Gravitomagnetic Modes

A recent theoretical development involves the discovery of a class of high-frequency gravitomagnetic modes that are only weakly damped, in addition to the strongly-damped low-frequency ones . These high-frequency modes are very localized spiral corrugations of the inner portion of the disk. They are perhaps most relevant to the observed QPOs, because X-ray emission from BHBCs is likely to originate very close to the central black hole. However, it remains to be seen whether the modes can be excited easily and whether they are capable of modulating X-ray emission .

It should be pointed out that two critical assumptions are made in the study: small tilt angle and (pseudo) Newtonian potential. The former simplifies the equation by ignoring the non-linear aspect of the problem, which might affect the damping time scales of gravitomagnetic modes in a significant way; non-linear calculations are required to shed light on this issue. The latter might still represent a good approximation for systems that contain a relatively slowly rotating neutron star, but is certainly invalid for rapidly rotating black holes in which the stable QPOs are observed. These assumptions, therefore, tend to limit the scope of the applicability of the results. At present, it would seem premature to draw any definitive conclusions about confirming or rejecting the gravitomagnetic origin of the stable QPOs in microquasars.

### 4.3 X-ray Modulation Mechanisms

The gravitomagnetic precession of accreted matter only provides a natural frequency for the QPOs. To actually see them, certain physical processes are required to produce X-ray modulations. The processes are entirely unknown at present. Possibilities include (by no means exclusively): (1) variation in the X-ray emitting area of the disk, due to precession; (2) Doppler or gravitational shift of photon energy, due to the Keplerian motion of self-illuminating clumps or “hot spots” in the accretion disk; (3) oscillation that modulates the emission from the disk; and (4) occultation of a highly compact X-ray emitting region by disk fragments or the inner part of the disk itself.

The transient nature of the QPOs seems to imply that the first possibility, if viable at all, must be only a small effect. Any processes that involve discrete clumps would unavoidably also produce X-ray modulation at the orbital (both polar and azimuthal) frequencies . These QPOs have not been seen in BHBCs, despite the high quality of RXTE data (the QPOs of comparable strength have been detected at around kHz, using the RXTE data, in more than a dozen neutron star systems ). Therefore, such processes also seem unlikely to be responsible for the observed QPOs. Hot spots or oscillations that modulate the emission from the accretion disk can also modulate Comptonized hard X-ray emission, if the seed photons originate in the disk emission. However, it seems difficult for these processes to amplify the fractional amplitude of the QPOs toward high photon energies, which is observed . Such energy dependence of the QPO amplitude might, in our view, hold the key to our understanding of the origin of the QPOs.

The only remaining possibility in the above list is the occultation of a highly compact hard X-ray emitting region by detached disk annuli or the inner disk itself. Interestingly, both observations  and theories  support the presence of such X-ray emitting regions in transient BHBCs during an X-ray outburst. As an example, Laurent & Titarchuk  recently showed that the observed power-law type hard X-ray spectrum of BHBCs may be the result of soft photons from the accretion disk being inverse-Compton scattered by the bulk motion of relativistic electrons in the vicinity of central black holes. The Comptonizing electrons are spatially confined almost entirely within the inner edge of the disk. In the context of this model, harder X-rays should, on average, originate closer to the black hole. Therefore, a precessing ring of matter occults a larger fraction of the harder X-ray emitting region, which might explain the observed energy dependence of the QPO amplitude, although a definitive answer still awaits detailed calculations based on this model.

### 4.4 Alternative Models

The stable QPOs in GRS 1915+105 and GRO J1655-40 can conceivably be associated with the Keplarian motion of self-illuminating clumps right at the last stable orbit around the black hole . In the case of GRO J1655-40 whose black hole mass is accurately known, the model would be able to explain the observed QPO frequency (300 Hz) only if the black hole does not rotate . This is clearly incompatible with the requirement for the presence of a rapidly rotating black hole in this source from modeling the observed X-ray spectrum. A more serious (and model independent) problem with this interpretation is due to the fact that general relativistic effects cause the temperature of the accretion disk to vanish at the last stable orbit . Consequently, no X-ray emission is expected from the inner edge of the disk.

Another proposal has been made to associate the stable QPOs to epicyclic oscillation modes in the accretion disk . Not only can such modes be supported by the disk, they also become trapped in the innermost portion of the disk, purely due to relativistic effects . It is also realized that g-mode oscillations affect the largest area of a region in the disk where most X-rays are emitted and are, therefore, perhaps most relevant to observations . This model can explain the measured frequencies of the stable QPOs in microquasars. However, like other disk-based processes, it may have difficulty in explaining the observed energy dependence of the QPO amplitude. Furthermore, it cannot account for the very-high-state QPOs or other relatively low-frequency QPOs in BHBCs (see § 3), although arguments can be made that these are fundamentally different from the stable QPOs in microquasars.

To quantify the comparison among the three possible models (gravitomagnetic precession, Keplerian motion, and g-mode oscillation), we have applied the models to both GRO J1655-40 and GRS 1915+105. For each model, a relationship between the mass and spin of the black hole is derived from the measured frequency of the QPO. The results are shown in Fig. 3, for both sources. In the

gravitomagnetic precession model, two limiting cases are shown for frequencies at the inner edge of the disk and at where the effective disk temperature peaks, since we do not know the actual X-ray modulation mechanism (see § 4.3). Also shown in the figure is the same relationship derived from modeling the observed X-ray spectrum for each source . The intersection between the latter and each of the three model curves, therefore, yields a solution to the mass and spin of the black hole, for a particular source, as predicted by that model. For GRO J1655-40, the mass of the black hole is known quite accurately, so it can be used to determine which models are compatible with the observed properties.

The uncertainty of the spectroscopic results is likely dominated by that of the color correction factor (up to $``$12% ), which can contribute as much a uncertainty as $``$24% in the derived radius of the last stable orbit . The next major source of uncertainty comes from determining the source distance, to which the radius of the last stable orbit is directly proportional. It amounts to $``$6% for GRO J1655-40  and $``$12% for GRS 1915+105 . Likely minor contributions include uncertainties in the binary inclination angle, in the derived X-ray flux and the peak effective temperature of the disk, and in various relativistic correction factors . To be relatively conservative, we have adopted an overall uncertainty of 40% on the radius of the last stable orbit for both sources. The lightly-shaded area in Fig. 3 reflects this measurement uncertainty.

Clearly, the Keplerian motion model is ruled out, since it is far from being consistent with the spectroscopic results. While the g-mode oscillation model seems to work for GRO J1655-40, it fails to yield any physical solutions for GRS 1915+105. The difference is so large that any reconciliation between the model and the data seems unlikely, unless the spectroscopic method has severely underestimated the radius of the last stable orbit (or the method does not apply in this case). On the other hand, the gravitomagnetic precession model seems to explain the observations well for both sources. For GRS 1915+105, the model constrains the mass ($``$3–14 $`M_{}`$) and spin ($``$37–90% maximal rotation) of the black hole. Future infrared observations of the source might be able to test the mass constraint.

## Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Andrea Merloni for sharing with us the results from his work prior to publication. W. Cui is also grateful to Ron Remillard for keeping him updated of the results on GRO J1655-40 and for many helpful discussions, despite some difference in their interpretation of the data. This work is supported in part by NASA through Contract NAS5-30612.

## References