THE ACCRETION DISK AND IONIZED ABSORBER OF THE 9.7 hr DIPPING BLACK HOLE BINARY MAXI J1305–704

TLDR: In this article, the authors report the results from X-ray studies of the newly discovered black hole candidate MAXI J1305-704 based on Suzaku and Swift observations in the low/hard and high/soft states, respectively.

Abstract: We report the results from X-ray studies of the newly discovered black hole candidate MAXI J1305–704 based on Suzaku and Swift observations in the low/hard and high/soft states, respectively. The long Suzaku observation shows two types of clear absorption dips, both of which recur on a dip interval of 9.74 ± 0.04 hr, which we identify with the orbital period. There is also partially ionized absorption in the nondip (persistent) emission in both the high/soft state and, very unusually, the low/hard state. However, this absorption (in both states) has substantially lower ionization than that seen in other high inclination systems, where the material forms a homogeneous disk wind. Here instead the absorption is most likely associated with clumpy, compact structures associated with the dipping material, which we see uniquely in this source likely because we view it at a very large inclination angle. A large inclination angle is also favored, together with a low black hole mass, to explain the high disk temperature seen in the fairly low luminosity high/soft state, as Doppler boosting enhances the disk temperature at high inclination. The disk radius inferred from these data is significantly smaller than that of the soft component seen in the low/hard state, supporting models where the disk is truncated at low luminosities. We find, however, that the lack of variability power on timescales of ~50 s in the Suzaku low/hard state data is difficult to explain, even with a low-mass black hole.