# Discovery of a ∼7 Hz Quasi-Periodic Oscillation in the low-luminosity low-mass X-ray binary 4U 1820–30

## 1. Introduction

The bright LMXBs can be divided on basis of their correlated X-ray spectral and timing behavior in the Z sources and the atoll sources, named after the tracks they produce in the X-ray color-color diagram (CD; Hasinger & van der Klis 1989). The globular cluster source 4U 1820–30 (NGC 6624) was classified as an atoll source. Before the launch of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) two types of QPOs were observed in the Z sources, which were not observed in the atoll sources (although several indications for QPOs or peaked noise were found; see, e.g., Stella, White, & Priedhorsky 1987a; Hasinger & van der Klis 1989; Yoshida et al. 1993). On the top branches (the so-called horizontal branches) of the Z sources a 15–60 Hz QPO was detected (the horizontal-branch oscillation or HBO) for whose explanation the magnetospheric beat-frequency model was put forward (Alpar & Shaham 1985; Lamb et al. 1985). That the HBO was seen only in Z sources was thought to be related to a higher magnetic field in the Z sources compared to that in the atoll sources (Hasinger & van der Klis 1989). In such an interpretation the HBO would be much weaker in the atoll sources, but they could be observable at some level. Another type of QPO was observed on the diagonal branches (the normal branches) of the Z sources (the normal-branch oscillation or NBO), when the mass accretion rate is near the Eddington mass accretion rate (e.g., Hasinger & van der Klis 1989; Penninx 1989; Smale 1998). The NBOs were therefore thought to be due to a process which was activated by such high accretion rates (Fortner et al. 1989; Alpar et al. 1992), and should be observable in the atoll sources if they would reach near Eddington accretion rates.

Shortly after the launch of RXTE in December 1995 a third type of QPO was discovered in both the Z sources and the atoll sources with frequencies between 200 and 1200 Hz (the kHz QPOs; see, e.g., van der Klis et al. 1996; Strohmayer et al. 1996; see Smale, Zhang, & White 1997 for the discovery of kHz QPOs in 4U 1820–30). In both types of sources, the kHz QPOs were remarkably similar and were most likely caused by the same physical mechanism. In the atoll sources, besided the kHz QPOs, other QPOs with frequencies between 20 and 70 Hz were observed (e.g., Strohmayer et al. 1996; Ford et al. 1997; Wijnands et al. 1998). The properties of these QPOs (their frequencies and their relation to broad band noise just below the QPO frequency; Wijnands et al. 1998) suggested a link with the HBOs of the Z sources. So far, similar QPOs as the Z source NBOs have not been reported in the atoll sources.

In this Letter, we report the discovery of a QPO near 7 Hz in the atoll source 4U 1820–30 at its highest observed mass accretion rate. If this QPO is caused by the same physical mechanism as the NBOs in the Z sources, then the production mechanism for these QPOs can also be actived when the luminosity is much less than the critical Eddington luminosity.

## 2. Observations, analysis, and results

We used archival data obtained with the RXTE satellite of 4U 1820–30 on 1996 May 1 09:00–22:51 UT, and 1996 May 3 22:15 – May 4 18:05 UT. A total of $``$40 ks of data were obtained. No X-ray bursts were observed. The data were simultaneously collected with 16 s time resolution in 129 photon energy channels (covering 2–60 keV), with 2 ms in 16 channels (covering 2–18.2 keV), and with 16 $`\mu `$s in 16 channels (18.2–60 keV). During $``$10% of the time, detector 4 and/or 5 (out of five) were off. For the color-color analysis we only used the data of the three detectors which were always on; for the power spectral analysis we used all available data.

In order to create the CD and the hardness-intensity diagram (HID), we used as soft color the 3.5–6.4/2.1–3.5 keV count rate ratio and as hard color the 9.7–16.0/6.4–9.7 keV ratio. As intensity we used the count rate in the energy range 2.1–16.0 keV. The CD and HID of all data are shown in Figure 1. In the right hand side of both diagrams what seems to be a banana branch is observed, with an additional patch of data that might be either the lower banana branch or part of an island state. The power spectrum observed during this part (see below) indicates that the source was not in an island state but in the lower part of the banana branch, because the strong ($``$20% rms amplitude) band-limited noise, characteristic of the island state, was not observed. We conclude that during these observations the source was in the banana branch continuously. The gap between the lower part of the banana branch with the rest is caused by the two day data gap between the 1996 May 1 and 1996 May 3–4 observations. During the May 1 observation the source was in the lower part of the banana branch and during the May 3–4 observations the source moved up an down the banana branch.

In order to study the timing behavior as a function of the position of 4U 1820–30 on the banana branch, we made power spectra of 16-s data segments of the 2 ms and 16 $`\mu `$s data combined. This resulted in $``$2500 power spectra between 1/16 and 256 Hz. The rms amplitude values quoted are those obtained for the energy range 2–60 keV, unless otherwise stated. We selected the power spectra on basis of the position of the source in the CD by dividing the banana branch in the CD into six regions (Figure 1 left). Each region was analyzed separately. The power spectra corresponding to each region were averaged and the dead-time modified Poisson level (Zhang 1995; Zhang et al. 1995) was subtracted. The average power spectra of regions 2 and 3 were fitted with a fit function consisting of a power law (representing the very-low frequency noise \[VLFN\]) and an exponentially cutoff power law (representing the high-frequency noise \[HFN\]). For region 1 a Lorentzian was included in the fit function as well, to fit a QPO near 70 Hz. For the power spectra corresponding to the other three regions, we only used a power law for the VLFN and a Lorentzian for the 7 Hz QPO (region 6) or the broad bump near 7 Hz (regions 4 and 5).

The power spectra corresponding to each region are shown in Figure 2. In the lower banana branch (region 1) the atoll source VLFN and HFN components (see Hasinger & van der Klis 1989) were observed. A QPO at 71$`\pm `$1 Hz was also observed, with an rms amplitude of 2.2%$`\pm `$0.2% and a FWHM of 21$`\pm `$4 Hz. There are also indications for a broad noise components at $``$100 Hz, similar to what has found in other atoll sources (Ford, van der Klis, & Kaaret 1998; Ford & van der Klis 1998; Wijnands & van der Klis 1998a), however, the limited time resolution below 18.2 keV did not allow to investigate this in more detail. The VLFN was detected throughout the entire banana branch except in region 6. Its rms amplitude (integrated over 0.01–1 Hz) varied erratically between 2.7% and 7.9%, with a 95% confidence upper limit in region 6 of 3.4%. The power law index varied erratically between 1.0 and 1.7. The HFN was observed in regions 1–3. Its rms amplitude (integrated over 1–100 Hz) and cutoff frequency decreased from 6.3%$`\pm `$0.1% and 13.7$`\pm `$0.7 Hz in region 1, to 3.1%$`\pm `$0.1% and 5.5$`\pm `$0.6 Hz in region 3. The power law index varied erratically between $``$0.9 and $``$1.4. In regions 4 and 5, broad peaked noise is present near 7 Hz. It is unclear whether the HFN evolved into this broad peaked noise component or was replaced by it. In region 6, a very significant (9$`\sigma `$) QPO is present near 7 Hz, which might be related to the peaked noise in region 4 and 5. We fitted this peaked noise as well as the QPO with a Lorentzian and found frequencies of 7.4$`\pm `$0.3 Hz in region 4 and 7.1$`\pm `$0.1 Hz in region 5, consistent with the QPO frequency of 7.06$`\pm `$0.08 Hz in region 6. While the FWHM of the Lorentzian decreased from 6.4$`\pm `$1.8 Hz in region 4 to 1.3$`\pm `$0.3 Hz in region 6, the rms amplitude increased from 3.4%$`\pm `$0.4% to 6.2%$`\pm `$0.3%.

We investigated the presence of the 7 Hz QPO in more detail and we found that it was only present during approximately 160 s of data during the 1996 May 4 observation. The QPO could then be directly observed in the light curve (Figure 3 bottom panel). When measured in 32-s time intervals the QPO frequency shifted erratically between 5.5 and 8 Hz and had at certain times a FWHM of only 0.5$`\pm `$0.2 Hz. The frequency drifts of the QPO caused the FWHM to be $``$2 Hz in all QPO data combined. We used these 160 s of data showing the QPO to study the energy dependence of its amplitude. We fixed the frequency (7.2$`\pm `$0.1 Hz) and FWHM (2.2$`\pm `$0.4 Hz) to the values obtained by using the total energy range (rms amplitude of 5.6%$`\pm `$0.2%; 11.8$`\sigma `$). The rms amplitude in the energy bands 2.8–5.3, 5.3–6.8, 6.8–9.3, 9.3–10.8, and 10.8–18.2 keV, were 3.7%$`\pm `$0.5%, 5.0%$`\pm `$0.8%, 7.3%$`\pm `$0.6%, 7.1%$`\pm `$1.3%, and 6.9%$`\pm `$0.9%, respectively. The 95% confidence upper limits on the presence of the QPO outside the 160 s interval were between 1% and 1.5% (total energy range). We performed time lag measurements between the energy bands 2.8–6.8 and 6.8–18.2 keV. The time lag of –1.2$`\pm `$3.4 ms is consistent with being zero.

We determined the X-ray flux during the time of the QPO by fitting the X-ray spectrum with an absorbed black body plus a power law. We obtained a 2–25 keV X-ray flux of 1.1$`\times `$10<sup>-8</sup> erg s<sup>-1</sup> cm<sup>-2</sup>. This corresponds to a 2–25 keV X-ray luminosity of 5.4$`\times `$10<sup>37</sup> erg s<sup>-1</sup>, assuming a distance of 6.4 kpc (Vacca, Lewin, & van Paradijs 1986). The power law index was $``$2.8 indicating that not much flux was present above 25 keV.

## 3. Discussion

We have discovered a very significant $``$7 Hz QPO in the X-ray flux of the globular cluster LMXB and atoll source 4U 1820–30. This QPO was only observed during a small part of the data, when the source was in the uppermost part of the banana branch in the CD. It is thought that the mass accretion rate increases monotonically along the banana branch from the lower to the upper banana (Hasinger & van der Klis 1989). If true, then the 7 Hz QPO was only detected during the highest observed mass accretion rate in this source. Note that, although the QPO was only detectable when the source was at the uppermost part of the banana branch, the count rate then was not the highest observed (Fig. 3). It seems that in this source, similar to what has been observed in the atoll sources 4U 1636–53 (van der Klis 1990; Prins & van der Klis 1997) and 4U 1608–52 (Méndez et al. 1998), the count rate does not have a one-to-one relation with the mass accretion rate.

Owing to the small amount of data showing the QPO it is difficult to compare this QPO with QPOs observed in other X-ray binaries. Similar frequency QPOs have been observed in a wide range of sources. For example, in black hole candidates (BHCs) QPOs with frequencies around 7 Hz were observed in several systems (see van der Klis 1995 for a review). However, recently it was shown (Wijnands & van der Klis 1998b) that at least some of these BHC QPOs are most likely related to the QPOs seen in atoll sources between 20 and 70 Hz. When 4U 1820–30 is on the lower part of the banana branch, thus at lower mass accretion rates, we detect a significant $``$70 Hz QPO (Fig. 2), similar to what is observed in other atoll sources. This indicates that the 7 Hz QPO is most likely not related to the 7 Hz BHC QPOs, unless the 70 Hz QPO decreased in frequency from 70 to 7 Hz from the lower banana branch to the upper part, opposite to what would be expected (e.g., Ford & van der Klis 1998).

In the X-ray dipper 4U 1323–62 a strong ($``$10% rms amplitude) QPO was recently discovered near 1 Hz (Jonker et al. 1998). The production of this QPO is thought to be related to the high ($`>`$70) inclination of this system. Although the modulation of the X-ray flux at the 11-min orbital period (Stella, Priedhorsky, & White 1987b) suggested a high inclination for 4U 1820–30, the strong modulation observed in the ultraviolet flux of this source indicates that the inclination most likely is between 35 and 50 (Anderson et al. 1997), making a common production mechanism of the two types of QPOs unlikely. This conclusion is further strengthened by the differences between the QPOs. The strength of the 1 Hz QPO in 4U 1323–62 only marginally increased with photon energy and it is observed almost continuously (even in the dips and the X-ray bursts), both contrary to the case of our 7 Hz QPO.

The most likely identification of the 7 Hz QPO in 4U 1820–30 is with the 7 Hz QPOs observed in the Z sources, when they are accreting near the Eddington mass accretion rate (see van der Klis 1995). This identification cannot be tested by comparing the time lags of the different QPOs. The non-detection of time lags in 4U 1820–30 is consistent with the non-detection in Scorpius X-1 (Dieters et al. 1999), but inconsistent with the large ($``$80 ms) time lags reported in Cygnus X-2 (Mitsuda & Dotani 1989). However, besides the similar frequencies, also the power spectral evolution with increasing mass accretion rate is very similar between the Z sources and 4U 1820–30. In the Z sources at low observed accretion rates, relatively strong (10–20%) band limited noise is present, which decreases in amplitude when the accretion rate is increasing. At a certain accretion rate, this noise is hardly detectable, but a new component arises near 7 Hz, which evolves in a clear QPO. The power spectral evolution of 4U 1820–30 is remarkably similar (Fig. 2). Seen in this light, it is not surprising that the 7 Hz QPO in 4U 1820–30 is only observed in the highest observed mass accretion rate. The NBOs in the Z sources are observed when these sources accretion near the Eddington accretion rate (Hasinger & van der Klis 1989; see, e.g., Penninx 1989 and Smale 1998 for the value of the accretion rate when the Z sources are on their normal branches). However, the X-ray luminosity in 4U 1820–30 is, assuming isotropic emission, at maximum $``$40% of the Eddington critical luminosity if the companion star has cosmic abundance. As the companion star is most likely a helium white dwarf (Stella et al. 1987a), the X-ray luminosity might be only $``$20% of the (helium) Eddington critical luminosity. Thus, barring a large anisotropy in the X-ray emission, the accretion rate in 4U 1820–30 is well below the Eddington critical accretion rate and below the accretion rate of the Z sources when they exhibited their 7 Hz QPOs. This would mean that, if the 7 Hz QPO in 4U 1820–30 is caused by the same physical mechanism as similar frequency QPOs in the Z sources, then the formation mechanism behind these QPOs is already activated in 4U 1820–30 well below the critical Eddington luminosity.

Note added in manuscript: After we submitted this Letter, we analyzed the PCA data of 4U 1820–30 used by Smale et al. (1997) and Zhang et al. (1998). During some of their observations the 7 Hz QPO was detected, again only at times when the source was in the uppermost part of the banana branch. When the source was at slightly lower inferred mass accretion rate, broad peaked noise was present near 10 Hz, which might be related to the QPO. These observations will be discussed in a forthcoming paper.

This work was supported in part by the Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy (ASTRON) grant 781-76-017. This research has made use of data obtained through the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center Online Service, provided by the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. We thank Jeroen Homan for stimulating discussions and comments on an earlier version of this document.