Iron-line and continuum flux variations in the RXTE spectra of the black-hole candidate XTE.pdf

a r X i v : a s t r o - p h / 0 5 0 4 1 8 2 v 1 7 A p r 2 0 0 5 Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 000, 1–7 (0000) Printed 2 February 2008 (MN LATEX style file v2.2) Iron-line and continuum flux variations in the RXTE spectra of the black-hole candidate XTE J1650–500 Sabrina Rossi1,2?, Jeroen Homan3, Jon M. Miller4, Tomaso Belloni1 1Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, 23807, Merate (LC), Italy 2Universita? degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca 3Center for Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 70 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 4Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA 2 February 2008 ABSTRACT We present the results of spectral fits made to 57 pointed observations of the Galactic black hole candidate and X-ray transient XTE J1650?500, made with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer in 2001 when the source was in a transition from the hard state to the soft state. A strong and variable Fe Kα emission line is detected in these spectra. The line flux varies in a non-linear way with the hard X-ray flux, in apparent contradiction to the predictions of simple disc reflection models. We observe a change in the overall trend that coincides with changes in the continuum X-ray spectrum and the fast X-ray variability. The Fe-line flux versus hard X-ray flux variations are consistent with the predictions of reflection models which consider high disc-ionization states and with a model which considers gravitational light-bending effects. Indications for an anti- correlation between the Fe-line flux and the hard X-ray flux in the spectrally hardest observations and weak variations in the Fe-line energy (as observed with XMM-Newton and BeppoSAX) slightly favour the light-bending interpretation. Key words: accretion, accretion discs – black hole physics – relativity – X-rays: individual (XTE J1650–500) – X-rays: stars 1 INTRODUCTION The energy spectra of several Galactic black-hole candidates and active galactic