Dense, multi-phase accretion disk atmosphere in the low-luminosity state of black hole transientV4641 Sgr

arXiv:2607.00226 · astro-ph.HE · Submitted 2026-06-30 · Read on arXiv

Zuobin Zhang, Rob Fender, James H. Matthews, Jiachen Jiang, Honghui Liu, Alessandra Ambrifi, Teo Muñoz-Darias, Maxime Parra, Megumi Shidatsu, Menglei Zhou, Yuexin Zhang, Abdurakhmon Nosirov, Cosimo Bambi, Justine Crook-Mansour

astro-ph.HE

Submitted: 2026-06-30

Comments: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stag1242

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The gist: We present soft X-ray spectroscopy of the black-hole X-ray binary V4641 Sgr with the XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS).

Terminology

Abstract

We present soft X-ray spectroscopy of the black-hole X-ray binary V4641 Sgr with the XMM-Newton Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS). The RGS spectrum shows narrow emission features from N, vi--vii and O, vii--viii superimposed on a partially covered disk blackbody continuum. A blind Gaussian search confirms the presence of significant lines at the expected rest wavelengths. He-like triplet ratios (high G, low R) and full photoionization modelling both indicate a dense, photoionized plasma. Small redshifted velocities of about 540 -- 720 km s-1 are suggested, which are consistent with quasi-static or slowly flowing gas away from the observer after accounting for systematics. Photoionization modelling requires two xstar components with an intermediate ionization parameter (xi 3.1) and a low ionization parameter (xi 0.36), respectively. The simultaneous EPIC-pn spectrum suggests highly ionized Fe emission structures, hinting at an additional, more highly ionized component. These results imply the existence of a radially extended, multiphase, and dense disk atmosphere in the source. We compare the source with other X-ray binaries showing similar emission lines. V4641 Sgr shares a similarly high inclination with other sources; however, the presence of low ionization emission lines distinguishes it from the rest.

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