Evolution of Accretion Modes between Spectral States Inferred from Spectral and Timing Analysis of Cygnus X-1 with Insight-HXMT Observations

Abstract

Abstract We execute a detailed spectral-timing study of Cygnus X-1 in the low/hard, intermediate, and high/soft states with observations from the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope. The broadband energy spectra fit well with the “truncated disk model”: the inner boundary of the accretion disk stays within ∼10 R g and moves inward as the source softens. Through studying the power density spectrum, rms, and Fourier frequency component resolved spectroscopy, we find that the X-ray variations are generated in two different regions for each state. We discover that the major contribution to the X-ray variation is from the hot corona rather than the accretion disk. We suggest a scenario with different coronal geometry for each state based on the truncated disk geometry in which the corona envelops the disk to form a sandwich geometry in the low/hard state, and then gradually moves away from the disk in a direction perpendicular to the disk until it forms a jet-like geometry in the high/soft state.