X-ray observation of XTE J2012+381 during the 1998 outburst

Abstract

The outburst of X-ray transient source XTE J2012+381 was detected by the RXTE All-Sky Monitor on 1998 May 24th. Following the outburst, X-ray observations of the source were made in the 2-18 keV energy band with the Pointed Proportional Counters of the Indian X-ray Astronomy Experiment (IXAE) on-board the Indian satellite IRS-P3 during 1998 June 2nd-10th. The X-ray flux of the source in the main outburst decreased exponentially during the period of observation. No large amplitude short-term variability in the intensity is detected from the source. The power density spectrum obtained from the timing analysis of the data shows no indication of any quasi-periodic oscillations in 0.002-0.5 Hz band. The hardness ratio i.e. the ratio of counts in 6-18 keV to 2-6 keV band, indicates that the X-ray spectrum is soft with spectral index > 2. From the similarities of the X-ray properties with those of other black hole transients, we conclude that the X-ray transient XTE J2012+381 is likely to be a black hole.