Radio/X-ray correlation database for X-ray binaries

This is a database for radio and X-ray observation of X-ray binaries based on published data in the literature. It also includes a simple python script to visualize the data.

For quick plotting of new sources, you can launch this Binder instance.

Introduction

The radio-X-ray correlation in accreting neutron stars and black holes has been discussed in detail in the literature. BH X-ray binaries (XRBs) show compact partially self-absorbed jet emission in quiescence and in the hard state during outbursts, making them brighter in radio compared to NS LMXBs with similar X-ray luminosities (Fender,Gallo & Jonker 2003; Gallo, Fender & Pooley 2003; Maccarone 2005, Migliari & Fender 2006). Since, there have been numerous efforts at further exploring and understanding this correlation. Numerous sources (both known and newly identified) have been observed in radio and X-rays. Here, we have compiled a collection of these measurements from the literature and we actively add new measurements as we notice new publications.

Many of these measurements have been done/reported in different radio and X-ray bands. To allow comparison, we convert all of these measurements to 5 GHz (in radio) and 1-10 keV (in X-rays). For these conversions, we generally assume a flat spectrum in the radio and use the best known photon index (assuming a power-law model) in the X-rays.

Package Description

Data: A catalog of radio and X-ray observations of Galactic X-ray binaries broken down based on system class. The data are stored in .csv format in the "data" directory, with all systems within a single system class included in a single file. Each data file has the following columns:

Name : Name of the source.
Class : System class, see System types for details.
Lr : Radio luminosity of the source in the 5 GHz band.
Lr_ler : Lower uncertainty on Lr.
Lr_uer : Upper uncertainty on Lr.
Lx : X-ray luminosity of the source in the 1-10 keV band.
Lx_ler : Lower uncertainty on Lx.
Lx_uer : Upper uncertainty on Lx.
uplim : Indicating whether the reported data point contains an upperlimit. "None" indicates both reported radio and X-ray luminosity values for the point are detections. String of "Lr" or "Lx" in this columns indicates non-detection and upper limit value for radio or X-rays respectively.
Ref : The reference publication for the data point.

Script: This package also contains a simple Python script to plot these data using Matplotlib and Pandas and allow easy modification to create your own version of the plot. The default output of this script is shown here.

Notebooks: There are also two notebooks, example.ipynb containing a brief example of how to modify the plot, and quick_plotter.ipynb which allows quick recreation of the plot for new sources. These notebooks can be executed in the browser, using Binder here.

List of sources

All the sources included in this database and plot are tabulated below.

System types

BH: Black hole XRBs (both confirmed and candidates).
candidateBH: Candidate black hole XRB systems which are primarily classified based on the radio/X-ray correlation.
NS: Neutron star XRBs (confirmed through type 1 X-ray bursts or pulsations)
candidateNS: Candidate neutron star XRB systems which are classified based on radio/X-ray correlation.
tMSP: Transitional Millisecond Pulsars (observations during accreting states - as opposed to pulsar state)
AMXP: Accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars
WD: White dwarf systems including cataclysmic variables (observations at or near flare peak) and other unusual WDs with bright radio detection.

Name	Type	Globular Cluster	Reference
A0620-00	BH	None	Gallo et al. 2006, MNRAS, 370, 1351; Dincer et al. 2018, ApJ, 852, 4
XTE J1118+480	BH	None	Fender et al. 2010, MNRAS, 406, 1425; Gallo et al. 2014, MNRAS, 445, 290
GX 339-4	BH	None	Corbel et al. 2013, MNRAS, 428, 2500
H 1743-322	BH	None	Coriat et al. 2011, MNRAS, 414, 677
V 404 Cyg	BH	None	Corbel et al. 2008, MNRAS, 389, 1697; Rana et al. 2016, ApJ, 821, 103; Plotkin et al. 2017, ApJ, 834, 104
Swift J1753.5-0127	BH	None	Soleri et al. 2010 MNRAS 406 1471; Rushton et al. 2016 MNRAS, 463, 628, Plotkin et al. 2017, ApJ, 848, 92
MAXI J1659-152	BH	None	Jonker et al. 2012, MNRAS, 423, 3308
XTE J1752-223	BH	None	Ratti et al. 2012, MNRAS, 423, 2656; Brocksopp et al. 2013, MNRAS, 432, 931
MWC 656	BH	None	Ribo et al. 2017, ApJ, 835, 33
MAXI J1836-194	BH	None	Russell et al. 2015, MNRAS, 450, 1745
GRO J1655-40	BH	None	Coriat et al. 2011, IAU Symp 275, 255; Calvelo, D. et al. 2010, MNRAS, 409, 839
XTE J1550-564	BH	None	Gallo et al. 2003, MNRAS, 344, 60
XTE J1720-318	BH	None	Brocksopp et al. 2005, MNRAS, 356, 125
IGR J17177-3656	BH	None	Paizis et al. 2011, ApJ, 738, 183
GRS 1758-258	BH	None	Gallo et al. 2003, MNRAS, 344, 60
IGR J17091-3624	BH	None	Rodriguez et al. 2011, A&A, 533, L4
GS 1354-64	BH	None	Gallo et al. 2003, MNRAS, 344, 60
4U 1543-47	BH	None	Gallo et al. 2003, MNRAS, 344, 60
XTE J1650-500	BH	None	Corbel et al. 2004, ApJ, 617, 1272
MAXI J1348-630	BH	None	Carotenuto F. et al., 2021b, MNRAS , 505, L58, Carotenuto F. et al., 2022b, arXiv:2208.00100
M62-VLA1	candidateBH	M62	Chomiuk et al. 2013, ApJ, 777, 69; Bahramian et al., in prep.
M22-VLA1,2	candidateBH	M22	Strader et al. 2012, Natur, 490, 71
47Tuc X9	candidateBH	47Tuc	Miller-Jones et al. 2015, MNRAS, 453, 3918; Bahramian et al. 2017, MNRAS, 467, 2199
VLA J2130+12	candidateBH	None	B. Tetarenko et al. 2016, ApJ, 825, 10
M10-VLA1	candidateBH	M10	Shishkovsky et al. 2018, ApJ., in press.
XSS J12270-4859	tMSP	None	Hill et al. 2011, MNRAS, 415, 235
IGR J18245-2452	tMSP	M28	Papitto et al. 2013, Natur, 501, 517
PSR J1023+0038	tMSP	None	Deller et al. 2015, ApJ, 809, 13; Bogdanov et al. 2017, arXiv, 1711.04791
EXO 1745-248	NS	Terzan5	A. Tetarenko et al. 2016, MNRAS, 460, 345
EXO 1745-248	NS	Terzan5	A. Tetarenko et al. 2016, MNRAS, 460, 345
Cen X-4	NS	None	Tudor et al. 2017, MNRAS, 470, 324
Cen X-4	NS	None	Tudor et al. 2017, MNRAS, 470, 324
1RXS J180408.9-342058	NS	None	Gusinskaia et al., 2017, MNRAS, 470, 1871
1RXS J180408.9-342058	NS	None	Gusinskaia et al., 2017, MNRAS, 470, 1871
MAXI J0556-332	NS	None	Coriat et al., 2011, ATel, 3119
MXB 1730-335	NS	None	Rutledge et al. 1998, ATel, 8
Aql X-1	NS	None	Migliari et al. 2011, MNRAS, 415, 2407
4U 1728-34	NS	None	Migliari et al. 2011, MNRAS, 415, 2407
4U 0614+091	NS	None	Migliari et al. 2011, MNRAS, 415, 2407
Swift J175233.9-290952	candidateNS	None	Tetarenko et al. 2017, ATel, 10422
4U 1543-624	candidateNS	None	Ludham et al. 2017, ATel, 10690
SAX J1808.4-3658	AMXP	None	Tudor et al. 2017, MNRAS, 470, 324
IGR J00291+5934	AMXP	None	Tudor et al. 2017, MNRAS, 470, 324
IGR J00291+5934	AMXP	None	Tudor et al. 2017, MNRAS, 470, 324
IGR J17511-3057	AMXP	None	Tudor et al. 2017, MNRAS, 470, 324
SAX J1748.9-2021	AMXP	NGC 6440	Miller-Jones et al., 2010, ATel, 2377; Tetarenko et al. 2017, ATel, 10843
IGR J16597-3704	AMXP	NGC 6256	Tetarenko et al. 2017, ATel, 10894
MAXI J0911-635	AMXP	NGC 2808	Tudor et al. 2016, ATel, 8914
XTE J0929-314	AMXP	None	Migliari et al. 2011, MNRAS, 415, 2407
IGR J17379-3747	AMXP	None	van den Eijnden et al. 2018, ATel, 11487; Strohmayer et al. 2018, ATel, 11507
IGR J17591-2342	AMXP	None	Russell et al. 2018, ApJL, 869, 16; Gusinskaia et al. 2020, MNRAS, 492, 1091
SS Cyg	WD	None	Russell et al. 2016, MNRAS, 460, 3720
AE Aqr	WD	None	Eracleous et al. 1991, ApJ, 382, 290; Abada-Simon et al. 1993, ApJ, 406, 692
AR Sco	WD	None	Marsh et al. 2016, Natur, 537, 374

List of updates

Since publication of the version published in Tetarenko, B., et al. 2016, the following updates have been applied (in chronological order):

MWC 656 updated based on Ribo et al. 2017. Previous measurements (X-rays from Munar-Adrover et al. 2014 and radio from Dzib et al. 2015 were non-simultaneous).
EXO 1745-248 added based on Tetarenko, A., et al. 2016.
M62 VLA1 updated based on Bahramian et al. in prep.
Swift J1753.5−0127 more data added based on Rushton et al. 2016 and Plotkin et al. 2017.
New AMXPs and NSs added Data for AMXPs IGR J00291+5934, SAX J1808.4-3658, IGR J17511-3057 and NS Cen X-4 (in quiescence) added from Tudor et al. 2017.
SAX J1748.9-2021 added based on Tetarenko et al. 2017. Note: The observed X-ray activity (which Tetarenko et al.'s results are based on), is not yet been confirmed to be from SAX J1748.9-2021 (as opposed to other X-ray sources in globular cluster NGC 6440). However, this source is the most likely origin.
1RXS J180408.9-34205 added based on Gusinskaia et al. 2017.
Major update (Jan 2018):
- New data points for MAXI J0911−635, SAX J1748.9−2021, Swift J175233.9-290952, 4U 1543−624, MAXI J0556−332, MXB 1730−335 based on Tetarenko et al. 2018.
- AR Scorpii added based on Marsh et al. 2016.
- New data points for "active" and "passive" accretion modes of PSR J1023+0038 addded based on Bogdanov et al. 2017.
- Data for A0620-00 updated based on Dincer et al. 2018.
M10 VLA1 data added based on Shishkovsky et al. 2018.
IGR J17379-3747 added based on van den Eijnden et al. 2018. NICER observations identified this transient as an AMXP (Strohmayer et al. 2018).
Major update (Apr 2018) We have now added multiple sources and more data to some existing sources based on archival studies (Motta et al., in prep.).
Release of Version 0.1 (May 2018)
2020 update:
- A radio upper limit data point for IGR J17511-3057 from Tudor et al. 2017 was included here with a numerical error. The upper limit is 8e+27, and not 8e+28.
- One omitted data point for IGR J00291+5934 (Tudor et al. 2017) is now included.
- New source IGR J17591-2342 added based on Russell et al. 2018 and Gusinskaia et al. 2020.
- Thanks to Nina Gusinskaia for pointing out these issues and providing the data.
2022 update 1
- Data re-organized into multiple csv files based on source classes to facilitate contributions and updates.
- Plotting script updated to incorporate better practices and switch dependencies from pickles and astropy tables to pandas dataframes.
- Release of version v220808.
MAXI J1348-630 data added based on Carotenuto F. et al., 2021 and Carotenuto F. et al., 2022. Thanks to Francesco Carotenuto for providing the data.

Warnings and cautions

Sampling issues

Simultaneity - For most of these measurements, X-ray and radio observations have been simultaneous or quasi-simultaneous (within 1-2 days). However, we warn the user to check the original reference as some of these measurements might have been far apart in time.

Bands, sensitivity, number of observations - The data quality, depth of observations, number of observations per source, observatories (and hence the observation bands) vary strongly in this catalog. Some sources like XTE J1118+480 or Swift J1753.5-0127 have been covered over a broad range of luminosities and are also observed numerous times, while many other sources are not observed more than a handful of times.

Distance - Another issue in sampling is large distances (combined with telescope sensitivity limits), which hampers study of many of these sources at lower luminosities. This is a dominant factor as to why there are very few data points at Lr < 1e28 erg/s and Lx < 1e34 erg/s. It is also important to note that many of these distance measurements are extremely uncertain.

Short-timescale variability - It is important to note that almost all of the sources in this catalog show short-timescale variability. This can impcat observations and sampling, specially if observations are short. For example, the data points included for the CVs are specifically chosen to show these sources at their flare peak. Or, the three data points for PSR J1023+0038 show this source show it in low and high modes in faint accretion state and also the average for this state.

Odd sources

To have a complete database, we have also added available data for Cyg X1 (based on Gallo et al. 2003, MNRAS, 344, 60) and GRS 1915+105 (based on Rushton et al. 2010, A&A, 524, 29). However, given these systems are generally classified as "unusual", we have separated them from the rest and they are not included in the plots and constructed dataframe by default. However, the data on these sources are available in the data directory and they can be included in the dataframe and plotting via include_oddsources=True in the data_reader function.

tMSPs

Transitional millisecond pulsars are a relatively new group of sources on this plot. There are still only a handful of confirmed tMSPs identified and thus their behavior (on the Lr-Lx plane) is not fully explored. A recent study by Bogdanov et al. 2017 indicates that in the faint accretion state, PSR J1023+0038 shows a strong anti-correlation between radio and X-ray luminosity. Based on the anti-correlation, it is also suggested that the radio emission might not be (entirely) from a self-absorbed jet. Thus, it is possible that comparing their radio and X-ray emission to other systems on this plot might not be appropriate.

Correlation lines

As shown in Tetarenko et al. 2018 and Gallo et al. 2018 NS XRBs and AMXPs do not seem to follow the previously suggested correlation lines. Thus, these correlation lines are not shown in the plot. However these are still included as comments in the plotting script.

The dotted black line shows the best-fit relation for BHs Gallo et al. 2006
The blue dashed and dashed-dotted lines show the two suggested correlations for NS systems Migliari & Fender 2006

Citing this package

If this package/database is useful to you, we request that you cite the following Zenodo record (for this version):

Bahramian et al. 2018; Radio/X-ray correlation database for X-ray binaries (version 220908)

Note that each version of this recod has a different DOI as managed by Zenodo. Thus, indicating the version facilitates comparison with the literature.

Zenodo also provides a Bibtex reference for the package, for the current version it is:

@software{arash_bahramian_2022_7059313,
  author       = {Arash Bahramian and
                  Anthony Rushton},
  title        = {bersavosh/XRB-LrLx\_pub: update 20220908},
  month        = sep,
  year         = 2022,
  publisher    = {Zenodo},
  version      = {v220908},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.7059313},
  url          = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7059313}
}

This repository is maintained and updated by Arash Bahramian. Feel free to contact me if you have suggestions/comments/questions. A complete list of contributors is available under CONTRIBUTORS. If you have contributed at any level to this repository via means other than pull requests, you are encouraged to add your name to this file.

bersavosh / XRB-LrLx_pub