Insight-HXMT observations of jet-like corona in a black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070.
Bei YouYuoli TuoChengzhe LiWei WangShuang-Nan ZhangShu ZhangMingyu GeChong LuoBifang LiuWeimin YuanZigao DaiJifeng LiuErlin QiaoChichuan JinZhu LiuBozena CzernyQingwen WuQingcui BuCe CaiXuelei CaoZhi ChangGang ChenLi ChenTianxiang ChenYibao ChenYong ChenYupeng ChenWei CuiWeiwei CuiJingkang DengYongwei DongYuanyuan DuMinxue FuGuanhua GaoHe GaoMin GaoYudong GuJu GuanChengcheng GuoDawei HanYue HuangJia HuoShumei JiaLuhua JiangWeichun JiangJing JinYongjie JinLingda KongBing LiChengkui LiGang LiMaoshun LiTipei LiWei LiXian LiXiaobo LiXufang LiYanguo LiZhengwei LiXiaohua LiangJinyuan LiaoCongzhan LiuGuoqing LiuHongwei LiuXiaojing LiuYinong LiuBo LuFangjun LuXuefeng LuQi LuoTao LuoXiang MaBin MengYi NangJianyin NieGe OuJinlu QuNa SaiRencheng ShangLiming SongXinying SongLiang SunYing TanLian TaoChen WangGuofeng WangJuan WangLingjun WangWenshuai WangYusa WangXiangyang WenBaiyang WuBobing WuMei WuGuangcheng XiaoShuo XiaoShaolin XiongYupeng XuJiawei YangSheng YangYanji YangQibin YiQianqing YinYuan YouAimei ZhangChengmo ZhangFan ZhangHongmei ZhangJuan ZhangTong ZhangWanchang ZhangWei ZhangWenzhao ZhangYi ZhangYifei ZhangYongjie ZhangYue ZhangZhao ZhangZiliang ZhangHaisheng ZhaoXiaofan ZhaoShijie ZhengDengke ZhouJianfeng ZhouYuxuan ZhuYue ZhuPublished in: Nature communications (2021)
A black hole X-ray binary produces hard X-ray radiation from its corona and disk when the accreting matter heats up. During an outburst, the disk and corona co-evolves with each other. However, such an evolution is still unclear in both its geometry and dynamics. Here we report the unusual decrease of the reflection fraction in MAXI J1820+070, which is the ratio of the coronal intensity illuminating the disk to the coronal intensity reaching the observer, as the corona is observed to contrast during the decay phase. We postulate a jet-like corona model, in which the corona can be understood as a standing shock where the material flowing through. In this dynamical scenario, the decrease of the reflection fraction is a signature of the corona's bulk velocity. Our findings suggest that as the corona is observed to get closer to the black hole, the coronal material might be outflowing faster.