A Phase-resolved View of Millihertz Quasiperiodic Oscillations in the Ultraluminous X-Ray Source M51 ULX-7: Evidence for a Magnetically Truncated Disk and Geometrical Beaming

• Published in: The Astrophysical Journal
• Main Authors: Qing-Cang Shui, Shu Zhang, Hua Feng, Yu-Peng Chen, Shuang-Nan Zhang, Jing-Qiang Peng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
• Subjects: Accretion; Neutron stars; Pulsars; Ultraluminous x-ray sources
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adc98f

X-ray quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) are commonly observed in Galactic X-ray binaries and extragalactic ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). In this study, we perform a phase-resolved analysis of recently discovered X-ray mHz QPOs in M51 ULX-7. This represents the first detailed phase-resolved analysis of QPOs conducted in ULXs. Our findings reveal that the amplitude of the mHz QPO slightly increases with photon energy, accompanied by a narrowing of the phase modulation profile. The phase-resolved spectroscopy indicates significant variability in the energy spectrum: both disk blackbody components exhibit marked variations on the QPO timescale, with the low-temperature component demonstrating significant synchronous changes in the disk temperature and luminosity, showing a positive correlation between these two parameters throughout the QPO cycle. This correlation supports the hypothesis that the disk inner radius corresponds to the magnetospheric radius, which slightly varies with the accretion rate. Our results suggest that the soft component, without beaming, originates from a magnetically truncated outer disk, while the hard component is geometrically beamed from the inner funnel regions.