Discovery and state transitions of the new Galactic black hole candidate MAXI J1535−571

Abstract

We report on the detection and subsequent X-ray monitoring of the new Galactic black hole candidate MAXI J1535−571 with the Gas Slit Camera onboard Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI/GSC). After the discovery on 2017 September 2, made independently with MAXI and the Swift/BAT, the source brightened gradually, and in a few weeks reached the peak intensity of ∼5 Crab, or ∼1.6 × 10−7 erg cm−2 s−1 in terms of the 2-20 keV flux. On the initial outburst rise, the 2-20 keV MAXI/GSC spectrum was described by a power-law model with a photon index of 2, while after a hard-to-soft transition, which occurred on September 18, the spectrum required a disk blackbody component in addition. At around the flux peak, the 2-8 keV and 15-50 keV light curves showed quasi-periodic and anti-correlated fluctuations with amplitudes of 10%-20%, on a time scale of ∼1 d. Based on these X-ray properties obtained with the MAXI/GSC, with additional information from the Swift/BAT, we discuss the evolution of the spectral state of this source, and give constraints on its system parameters.