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Description
We present an energy dependent X-ray variability study of the 2010 outburst of the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1659-152 with the Swift X-ray Telescope (XRT). The broadband noise components and the quasi-periodic oscillations (QPO) observed in the power spectra show a strong and varied energy dependence. Combining Swift XRT data with data from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, we report, for the first time, an rms spectrum (fractional rms amplitude as a function of energy) of these components in the 0.5-30keV energy range. We find that the strength of the low-frequency component (<0.1Hz) decreases with energy, contrary to the higher frequency components (>0.1Hz) whose strengths increase with energy. In the context of the propagating fluctuations model for X-ray variability, we suggest that the low-frequency component originates in the accretion disk (which dominates emission below ~2keV) and the higher frequency components are formed in the hot flow (which dominates emission above ~2keV). As the properties of the QPO suggest that it may have a different driving mechanism, we investigate the Lense-Thirring precession of the hot flow as a candidate model. We also report on the QPO coherence evolution for the first time in the energy band below 2keV. While there are strong indications that the QPO is less coherent at energies below 2keV than above 2keV, the coherence increases with intensity similar to what is observed at energies above 2keV in other black hole X-ray binaries.
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