A Multiwavelength Study of GRS 1716-249 in Outburst: Constraints on Its System Parameters
Journal article, 2022
We present a detailed study of the evolution of the Galactic black hole transient GRS 1716-249 during its 2016-2017 outburst at optical (Las Cumbres Observatory), mid-infrared (Very Large Telescope), near-infrared (Rapid Eye Mount telescope), and ultraviolet (the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope) wavelengths, along with archival radio and X-ray data. We show that the optical/near-infrared and UV emission of the source mainly originates from a multi-temperature accretion disk, while the mid-infrared and radio emission are dominated by synchrotron emission from a compact jet. The optical/UV flux density is correlated with the X-ray emission when the source is in the hard state, consistent with an X-ray irradiated accretion disk with an additional contribution from the viscous disk during the outburst fade. We find evidence for a weak, but highly variable jet component at mid-infrared wavelengths. We also report the long-term optical light curve of the source and find that the quiescent i'-band magnitude is 21.39 +/- 0.15 mag. Furthermore, we discuss how previous estimates of the system parameters of the source are based on various incorrect assumptions, and so are likely to be inaccurate. By comparing our GRS 1716-249 data set to those of other outbursting black hole X-ray binaries, we find that while GRS 1716-249 shows similar X-ray behavior, it is noticeably optically fainter, if the literature distance of 2.4 kpc is adopted. Using several lines of reasoning, we argue that the source distance is further than previously assumed in the literature, likely within 4-17 kpc, with a most likely range of similar to 4-8 kpc.
Author
Payaswini Saikia
New York University Abu Dhabi
David M. Russell
New York University Abu Dhabi
M. C. Baglio
New York University Abu Dhabi
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
D. M. Bramich
New York University Abu Dhabi
Piergiorgio Casella
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Maria Diaz Trigo
European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Poshak Gandhi
University of Southampton
Jiachen Jiang
University of Cambridge
Thomas Maccarone
Texas Tech University at Lubbock
Roberto Soria
The University of Sydney
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Hind Al Noori
University of California at Santa Barbara
Aisha Al Yazeedi
New York University Abu Dhabi
Kevin Alabarta
New York University Abu Dhabi
University of Groningen
University of Southampton
Tomaso Belloni
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Marion Cadolle Bel
Allane SE
Chiara Ceccobello
Chalmers, Space, Earth and Environment, Astronomy and Plasmaphysics
Stephane Corbel
University of Orléans
University Paris-Saclay
Rob Fender
University of Oxford
University of Cape Town
Elena Gallo
University of Michigan
Jeroen Homan
Eureka Scientific
Karri Koljonen
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Aalto University
University of Turku
Fraser Lewis
Cardiff University
Liverpool John Moores University
Sera B. Markoff
University of Amsterdam
James C. A. Miller-Jones
Curtin University
Jerome Rodriguez
University Paris-Saclay
Thomas D. Russell
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Tariq Shahbaz
University of La Laguna
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
Gregory R. Sivakoff
University of Alberta
Vincenzo Testa
Istituto nazionale di astrofisica (INAF)
Alexandra J. Tetarenko
Texas Tech University at Lubbock
Astrophysical Journal
0004-637X (ISSN) 1538-4357 (eISSN)
Vol. 932 1 38Subject Categories
Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics
Other Physics Topics
DOI
10.3847/1538-4357/ac6ce1