Comparing black hole and neutron star variability

Abstract

There are remarkable similarities between the rapid X-ray variability of low-magnetic field neutron stars in low mass X-ray binaries, and that of black holes. In particular at frequencies <100 Hz, their power spectra can be strikingly similar. The highest frequency phenomena (kilohertz QPOs, black hole high-frequency QPOs and neutron star hectohertz QPOs) are the ones that showmost differences, perhaps because they originate closest to the compact object. Most variability components vary in frequency in correlation with one another, and the correlations once again are very similar across neutron stars and black holes — some extend even to white dwarfs. Although this does not strictly require that all phenomena whose frequencies are involved are caused by the same physics in all three source types, this does indicate that basic properties of the accretion flow which are the same in all three source types play an important role in generating at least some of the frequencies.