The evolution of black hole states

We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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aTheevolutionofblackholestatesJeroenHomanMITCenterforSpaceResearch70VassarStreet,Cambridge,MA02139,USAjeroen@space.mit.eduTomasoBelloniINAF/OsservatorioastronomicodiBreraViaE.Bianchi46,23807,Merate(LC),Italybelloni@merate.mi.astro.itAbstract.WediscusstheevolutionofblackholetransientsonthebasisofafewsystemsthatwereintensivelyobservedwiththeRossiX-rayTimingExplorer.Wefocusontheglobalevolutionandtheobservedstatetransitions.Ratherthangivinganumericalrecipeforclassifyingobservations,wetrytoidentifytimesduringoutburstsatwhichclearchangesoccurintheX-rayvariability,X-rayspectral,ormulti-wavelengthproperties.1.IntroductionSincethelaunchoftheRossiX-rayTimingExplorer(RXTE)about～20blackholeX-raytransientshavebeenobservedwithenoughcov-eragetostudytheirglobalevolution.Theseobservationshaveprovidedawealthofinformationandhavealreadyledtoaconsiderableincreaseinourunderstandingofthesesystems.InarecentreviewbyMcClin-tockandRemillard(2004)anewclassi cationschemewasproposedforthespectralandvariabilitystatesasobservedinblackholetran-sients.McClintockandRemillard(2004)approachedthestatesissuebyidentifyingthree‘stable’statesinblackholetransients.Inthispaperweapproachtheissuefromanotherangle,focusingontheobservedtransitions,theoverallevolutionduringanoutburst,andhowX-raychangesrelatetochangesatotherwavelengths.

2.Statede nitions

Untilthelate1990sitwasgenerallyassumedthatthestateofablack-hole

M˙systemwasdeterminedbytheinstantaneousmassaccretionrate,.Itwasbelievedthatasthemassaccretionrateincreased,asourcewentthroughthefollowingstates(seee.g.Esinetal.,1997):quiescence→low/hard→intermediate→high/soft→veryhigh.ObservationswithRXTEofsourceslikeXTEJ1550–564haveshownthatsuch c2008KluwerAcademicPublishers.PrintedintheNetherlands.

We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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˙-drivenpicture,withtransitionsonlybeingtriggeredbyasimpleM˙,isprobablynotabletoexplaintheobservedtransitionchangesinMbetweenthestates.Homanetal.(2001)suggestedthatanadditionalparametermayplayaroleinthosetransitions.Theyalsosuggestedthatthevery-highstateandtheintermediatestate(s)areoneandthesamestateandrepresenttransitionsbetweenthelow/hardandhigh/softstatesatdi erentluminosities.Thefactthatmostofthestateswereobservedoverwideandoverlappingrangesinluminosityalsomeantthatattributeslike‘low’,‘high’and‘veryhigh’hadlostmostoftheirsigni cance.

McClintockandRemillard(2004)introducedanewclassi cationschemethatispartlybasedontheold ve-statesscheme,butnolongerusesluminosityasaselectioncriterionsinceitappearedthatanyoftheactivestatesmayoccuratanyluminosity.Theystillrecognizeaquiescentstate,hardstate,softstate(renamingthelatterthe‘thermaldominantstate’),andvery-highstate(renamingitthesteeppower-lawstate),butdroptheintermediatestateasabona destate.Thethreeactivestatesarede nedonthebasisofthefractionalcontributionofthedisk- ux(orpower-law ux)tothe2–20keVspectrum,spectralpower-lawindex,andthestrengthofthepowercontinuum.Allobser-vationsthatcannotbeclassi edaccordingtotheirstatede nitions,arecombinedintoanintermediatestate,inwhichobservationscanshowpropertiesofanyofthethreemainstates.

Someofthestatetransitionsdiscussedinthispaperinvolve(andarede nedonthebasisof)suddenchangesinthepropertiesofthequasi-periodicoscillations(QPOs)inthe～1–10Hzrange.Currentlythreetypesoftheselow-frequencyQPOsarerecognizedinblackholebinaries,calledtypeA,BandC(Wijnandsetal.,1999,Remillardetal.,2002).Thethreetypescanbedistinguishedonthebasisofstrength,coherence,phaselags,energydependence,harmoniccontent,andfrequencystabilityonatimescaleofdays.TypeCQPOsarethemostcommonones;theyareobservedinthespectrallyhardstatesoverawiderangeinfrequency(～0.1–10Hz),andarestrongerandmorecoherentthantheothertwotypes.TypeAandBQPOshaveonlybeenobservedinafewsources;theyareonlyseeninthevery-high/steeppower-lawstate,inanarrowfrequencyrange(～4–8Hz).RecentobservationsofH1743–322(Homanetal.,2004b)suggestthatthesetwotypesmightbemoreintimatelyrelatedthanwaspreviouslybelieved.TransitionsfromonetypeofQPOtoanotheralwaysseemtoinvolvetypeB(Casellaetal.,2004),withtransitionsbetweentypeCandBresultinginaclearchangeintheshapeandstrengthofnoisecontinuum.ThemainreasonforincludingQPOtypeinourdiscussionofblackholestatesisthattheyprovideanadditionalindicationfor

We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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changesintheaccretion owthatmaynotalwaysshowupasstrongspectraltransitions.

3.Globalevolution

Hardness-intensitydiagrams(HIDs),inwhichtheX-raycountrateisplottedversusanX-raycolor,provideaquickwaytostudytheglobalevolutionofblackholetransientsduringoutburst.InFigure1weplotthelightcurvesandHIDsoffourtransientsthatwereobservedwithRXTEbetween1999and2003.ItshouldbenotedthatconstantcountratelevelsintheseHIDscorrespondtosubstantiallyhigherluminositiesathardnessvaluescloseto1thanatvaluesof0.001-0.01.TheHIDsaresimilartoeachotherinthatallfoursourcesseemtotraceout(partof)acounter-clockwiseq-shapedtrack.Belowacertaincountratethespectrumisalwaysveryhard(i.e.inthehardstate)andabovethespectrumiseitherveryhardorverysoft,exceptfortwotransitionalphases(the’horizontal’branchesintheHID).Thismeans,aswasnotedbyotherauthorsaswell(seee.g.MaccaroneandCoppi,2003),thatwithinasingleoutburstthehard→softtransitionoccursata uxthatisaboutafactorof10–100higherthanthesoft→hardtransition.NotethatinGX339–4andXTEJ1650–500thehard→softtransitionwasratherfast,whileinXTEJ1859+226andH1743–322thesourcelingeredforalongertimeatintermediatecolors.

WhilethesourcesshowninFigure1showasmoothoverallmove-mentthroughtheirHID,thefasttimevariabilityandmulti-wavelengthpropertiesallowonetode neafewrathersharpboundariescorrespond-ingtostatetransitions.Inthefollowing,wewillbaseourdiscussionofstatesmostlyonthe2002/2003outburstofGX339-4,theresultsofwhichwillpresentedinBellonietal.(2004)andHomanetal.(inprep.).Completereferencesforourdiscussioncanbefoundinthoseworks.

4.Adetailedlookatthestates

4.1.Thehardstate-riseanddecay

Sincepointedobservationsofatransientinoutburstoftenstartonlywhenthesourcealreadyhasaluminositythatisafactorofmorethan104–105abovethequiescentlevel,notmuchisknownabouttheearlyevolutionofoutbursts.ThankstoamonitoringcampaignsetupbyDavidSmithandco-workers,the2002/2003outburstofofGX339–4

We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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Figure2.AnRXTElightcurveoftheriseofthe2002/2003outburstofGX339–4.Thetimesofthe rstsigni cantPCAandASMdetectionsareindicated,asarethepre-outburstandquiescencelevels.Thetwograylinesshowthepresenceoftwodi erenttimescalesduringtheearlyrise.

2003).InFigure2weshowtheearlyevolutionofGX339-4.Fromthis gureitisclearthatbeforethe rstASMdetectionthesourceluminosityhadbeenincreasingforatleast40days,initiallyslowlyandlatermorerapidly.

Throughouttheseearlystagesoftheoutburst,untilithadreacheditspeak3–100keV ux,thesourcewasinthehardstate:thestrengthofthebroad-bandvariabilitydecreasedfrom45%rmsto30%rmsandtheenergyspectrumwasdominatedbyapowerlawcomponent,withtheindexslowlyincreasingfrom1.3to1.4.DuringtherisethefrequenciesofthenoisecomponentsandtheoccasionalQPOincreasedgradually.Anexampleofapower-densityspectrumfromthisstateinGX339-4isshowninFigure3.

Justafterreachingitspeak ux,increasesinthepower-lawindexandnoise/QPOfrequenciesaccelerated.Also,astrongincreaseofthespectrallysoftdiskcomponentandasubstantialdecreaseintheop-tical/IR ux(seeFig.4)wereobservedatthattime,withthelatterprobablybeingtheresultofthejetswitchingo (orstartingto,Homanetal.,2004a).Atthispointthesourceenteredanintermediatestate(see§4.2),withthetransitionfromthehardstatebeingvisibleasanalmost90 turntotheleftintheHID.Notethatinthede nitionofMcClintockandRemillard(2004)sourcesstayinthehardstateuntilthepower-lawsteepensbeyondanindexof2.1.Inourviewthehardstateislimitedtoonlythehardestpower-lawdominatedspectrawithindicesaround1.3–1.5,asmanychangesoccur(simultaneously)whenthepower-lawbecomessteeper.

We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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Figure3.Examplesofpower-densityspectraofGX339-4fromthefourstatesdiscussedinthetext.

Attheendofthe2002/2003outburstGX339-4returnedtothehardstate,similartowhatisobservedinmost,ifnotall,blackholetransients.IntheHIDthiscanbenicelyseenasthelowerhorizontalbranchbendingdowntostartrunningparallelto,andinfactnearlyontopof,thehardstatebranchthatwastracedoutduringtherise.Such‘saturation’ofthespectralhardnesswasalsoobservedinXTEJ1650–500(Rossietal.,2003,seealsoFig.1).ItisinterestingtonotethatonceGX339-4reachedthehardnessatwhichitoriginallyleftthehardstatebranch,theoptical/IRshowedastrongincrease(seelightcurvesinBailynandFerrara,2004),indicatingthatthejetdoesnotbecomevisibleintheoptical/IR(orswitchon)untilthehardstatebranchisreached(aswasalreadysuggestedbyKalemcietal.,2004basedonobservations4U1543–47).Thespectralhardeningtowardsthehardstateisnotnecessarilyamonotonicprocess,ascanbeseenintheHIDofGX339-4andXTEJ1859+226.

ObservationsofhardstatebranchesextendingovermanyordersofmagnitudeinGX339-4andXTE1650–500indicatethatthehardstateaccretion owgeometry(whichlikelygivesrisetostrongout ows)canexistoverawiderangeinmassaccretionrate.

We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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4.2.Thehardstate softstatetransitions

Immediatelyafterleavingandbeforereturningtothehardstate,blackholetransientsareobservedinanintermediatestate,withspectralpower-lawindicesbetweenroughly1.5–2.5.Wearenotawareofanyexceptiontothis.Thisstateisdi erentfromthehardstateinsev-eralaspects.Dependingonwhethertheintermediatestateisobservedduringthehard→softorsoft→hardtransition,sourcesshowaclearsteepening/ atteningofthespectralpowerlawcomponent,astrongincrease/decreaseinthenoiseandQPOfrequencies,andanincreas-ing/decreasingfractionaldisk ux,comparedtothehardstate.Allthesepropertiesevolvesmoothlyfromandtothehardstate.Infact,withouttheHIDandoptical/IRinformation(seeFig.4)itwouldbedi culttoexactlypin-pointthetransitionbetweenthesetwostates.Inthecaseofthehard→softtransitionthemovementtotheleftintheHIDisduetothecombinationofincreaseddisk uxandsteepeningofthepowerlaw.Inthetimingdomain,thebroad-bandvariabilitycomponentsseeninthepowerdensityspectrumincreasetheirchar-acteristicfrequencies,showinganevolutionthatclearlylinksthemtothecorrespondingcomponentsinthehardstate.AcleartypeCQPOappears,alsowithacharacteristicfrequencyincreasingwithtimeanddecreasinghardness(seeBellonietal.(2004)).Atypicalpower-densityspectrumfromtheintermediatestateisshowninFigure3.

Itisimportanttonotethatthehard→intermediatestatetransitiondoesnotalwaysoccuratthesame uxlevel,ascanbeseenfromFigure

4.Duringthe2004outburstofGX339–4thistransitionoccurredata uxlevelthatwasaboutafactorof4lowerthanin2002.Thetransitionin2004wasprecededbyasmallhardstateoutburst,whichsuggeststhatthe uxlevelatwhichthetransitionoccursdependsontherecentaccretionhistory.AfterpassingthroughtheintermediateGX339-4continuedtobrighteninthesoftsateduringits2004outburst.

Anotherimportantpointtonoteisthefactthattheoccurrenceoftheintermediatestatedoesnotseemtodependonthetimederivative˙.InXTEJ1650–500itoccurredduringthedecay,butinGX339–ofM˙wasapparentlystillincreasing,aswitnessedbythesecond4whileM(soft)maximuminthelightcurve.However,inbothcasesthetransitionresultedina(temporary)dropinthecountratebyafactorof～2.Takingoncemorethe2002/2003outburstofGX339–4asatem-plate,weseethatwhenthehardnessgoesbelowawellde nedthresh-old,thetimingpropertieschangesharply:acleartypeBQPOappearsinthepowerdensityspectrum(Figure3,seealsoCasellaetal.,2004forsimilarbehaviorinXTEJ1859+226).InmostsourcesthechangefromtypeCtotypeBQPOsseemstotakeplacewhenthepower-law

We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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Figure4.Leftpanel:X-ray/IRcorrelationforthe rstpartofthe2002/2003out-burstofGX339-4(Homanetal.,2004).Thedi erentbehaviorforthedi erentstatesisevident.Rightpanel:HIDofthetwomostrecentoutburstsofGX339-4:2002/2003(gray)and2004(black).

indexhasavaluearound2.5-3.0.Infact,power-lawswithsuchindicesareaccompaniedbyagreatvarietyoftimingproperties:notonlytypeA,BorCQPOs,butalsoveryweakvariabilitylikethatseeninthesoftstate.

Wewillrefertothepartofthetransitionduringwhichthepower-lawindexchangesbetween～1.5–2.5andwhichshowstypeCQPOsandstrongband-limitednoiseasthehardintermediatestate.Thepartofthetransitionwherethepower-lawindexisrelativelyconstantaroundavalueof2.5–3.0andduringwhichthesourceoccasionallyshowstypeAandBQPOsontopofweakerrednoisewillbereferredtoasthesoftintermediatestate.NotethatinGX339-4thesoftintermediatestatealsoshowedobservationswithweakbandlimitednoiseand/orQPOsthatwewerenotabletoclassify.Itisthereforemoreacollectionofdi erenttypesofbehavior,betweenwhichthesourcecouldswitchonatimescaleofaday,ratherthanawellde nedstate.

Itisimportanttonotethatthechangefromthehardintermediatetothesoftintermediatestatewasrepeatedagaininthe2004outburstatthesamespectralhardness.Duringthe2002/2003outburstahugeradio are/ejectioneventwasobservedaroundthetimeofthechangefromthehardintermediatetothesoftintermediatestate(Galloetal.,2004,Fenderetal.,2004).Althoughitistemptingtoassociatesucha arewiththistransition,itshouldbementionedthatsimilarradioeventsarealsoobservedinGRS1915+105(Bellonietal.,2000),asourceforwhichcharacteristictypeAandBQPOswerenotobservedtodate.However,giventhefasttimescalesoftransitionsinthissystem,

We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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itispossiblethatsuchQPOsappearforintervalsshorterthanforothersources,whichwouldmakethemdi culttoobserve.

Itisduringthesoftintermediatestatethatmosthigh-frequencyQPOshavebeendetected,indicatingthattheremightbearelationbetweenthoseandtypeA/BQPOs;indeed,thefrequenciesofbothfeaturesarenotobservedtovarybyalargeamountbetweendi erentobservations.ItispossiblehoweverthatthehighfrequencyQPOsinsoftintermediatestateevolvefrombroaderfeaturesinthehardin-termediatestate,asissuggestedbyobservationsofXTEJ1650–500(Homanetal.,2003).Noticethatwhilethesoftintermediatestateisoftenobservedathigh uxbetweenthehardintermediateandthesoftstates,thesametimingpropertiesarenotobservedatlow ux,whenthereversetransitiontakesplace.Moreover,inXTEJ1550–564(Homanetal.,2001)typeAandBQPOsappearedatseveralwellseparatedluminositylevels,stronglysuggestingtheyarenotstrictlyrelatedtohard softtransitions.InGX339-4astrong1HzQPOwithsomepropertiessimilartothoseofthetypeBQPOsisobservedatlow ux,indicatingthatitispossiblethatasimilarstateexistalsoatmuchloweraccretionrate,althoughwithdi erentcharacteristicfrequencies(Bellonietal.,2004).

4.3.Thesoftstate

Duringthesoftstate,whichinGX339-4tookplaceafterthesoftintermediatestate,thespectralandtimingpropertiesareratherwellde ned,althoughasinglecleartransitionfromthesoftintermediatestateishardtoidentify.Theenergyspectrumofthesoftstateisdom-inatedbyastrongthermalcomponent,withthepresenceofaweaksteeppower-lawcomponent,whichwasnotobservedtoshowahigh-energycuto (seeGroveetal.,1998).Variabilityinthesoftstateisweakcomparedtotheotherstates,withtypicalrmsamplitudesofatmostafew%rms.Unfortunately,bythetimemosttransientsreachthesoftstatetheyareusuallyinthedecayphaseandobservationshavebecomeshorterandlessfrequent,sodetailedstudiesofitsvariabilitypropertiesarerare.Nevertheless,afewweakQPOshavebeendetectedinthesoftstatesofGROJ1655–40,XTEJ1550–564,andH1743–322.TheseQPOsallhadfrequenciesthatwerehigherthantheotherlowfrequencyQPOsdetectedinthosesourcesandthenoisecontinuacouldallbe ttedwithbrokenpowerlaw.Surprisingly,theQPOandbreakfrequenciesofthesepowerspectrafallontopoftheWijnands-vanderKlisrelation(Wijnands&vanderKlis1999)forblackholesinthehardandhardintermediatestates.ThissuggestsnotonlythatthesemightbetypeCQPOs,butmoreimportantly,thatvariability

We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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Figure5.TheHIDofthe2002/2003outburstofGX339-4.Cleartransitionsaremarkedbygraysegments.Thebranchescorrespondingtothefourbasicstatesintheq-trackarelabeled(Bellonietal.,2004).

propertiesthatoncewerethoughttobecharacteristicofthehardandhardintermediatestatesarestillpresentinthesoftstate,althoughinamuchweakerform.

4.4.Discussion

Althoughthepicturepresentedhereissomewhatsimpli ed,asaddi-tionalcomplicationshavebeenobserved,wecansketchthestatesbyusingoncemoreGX339-4asatemplate(seeFig.5andFenderetal.,2004).Asshownabove,thehardintermediateandsoftintermediatestatesarekeptseparate,asbothspectralandtimingevolutionshowmarkeddi erences.

Thehardstateandthehardintermediatestateshavemuchincom-mon.Spectrally,theyaredominatedbyahardcomponentforwhichahigh-energycuto isobserved(Groveetal.,1998).Inthetimingdomain,thecomponentsobservedinthepowerdensityspectruminthesetwostatesareclearlyrelated,ascanbeseenfromtheevolutionoftheircharacteristicfrequencies(Bellonietal.,2004).Nevertheless,somethinghappenstotheaccretion owasthesourcemovesfromthelow/hardstatetotheintermediatestate,ascanbeseenfrommulti-wavelengthstudies(Homanetal.,2004a).Thisislikelytoberelatedto

We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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changesinthejet,whichcouldberesponsibleforpartoftheobservedX-ray ux(Fenderetal.,2004)asisalsoindicatedbythefactthatradioemissionisalwaysobservedinthesestates.

Thesoftstateandsoftintermediatestatearespectrallysomewhatrelated.Theenergyspectrumisdominatedbythethermaldiskcompo-nent,withasteephardcomponentwithnoevidenceofahigh-energycuto .Thepowerdensityspectrumlacksband-limitedcomponentsandshowsonlyQPOssuperimposedonapower-lawcomponent.Noradioemissionisobserved(i.e.onlyupperlimitsontheemissionfromthecompactsource),indicatingthattheproductionofajetisterminatedatthetransitiontosoftintermediatestate(Fenderetal.,2004)andmaybeevenbefore.Duringthesestates,theaccretion owisclearlydi erentfromtheothertwo.Intermsofvariabilityhowever,thesoftstatesharessomepropertieswiththehardstateandhardintermediatestate,withthetypicalvariabilitytimescalesfollowingthesamerelationasseeninthosestates.Ifthehardstatevariabilitypropertiesarelinkedtojetproduction,thepresenceofrelated(butmuchweaker)variabilityinthesoftstatecouldindicateaveryweak(i.e.belowcurrentdetectionlimits)jetinthatstateaswell.

Inadditiontothesegeneralproperties,thereisanumberofimpor-tanttopicswhosedetaileddiscussionisbeyondthescopeofthepresentpaper.Mostnotably,thefasttransitionsobservedbetweendi erentstates(neverinvolvingthehardstate,whichisonlyreservedforthebeginningandtheendofanoutburst)needtobestudiedindetail,astheyprobablyholdthekeyforadeeperunderstandingofthephysicsofthestatesandtheirassociationtothejet.Also,somesourcescanhavebrightoutburstswithouteverleavingthehardstate,indicatingthatonceagaintheinstantaneousmassaccretionrateisnotwhatdeterminesthetransitions.However,therecenthistoryofthemassaccretionratemayplayanimportantrole(thiscanalsobeseeninFig.4,asGX339-4wasobservedtoleavethehardstateareverydi erent uxlevels).Asecondaryaccretion ow(Smithetal.,2002;Yuetal.,2004)orchangesintheComptoncooling/heatingintheaccretiondiskcorona(Meyer-Hofmeisteretal.,2004)seemtobepromisingtoexplainsomeoftheseissues.Forexample,delaysbetweenafast(i.e.intermsofpropagationspeed)secondary owandaslowerdisk owcouldaccountfortheobservedhysteresis.

Inconclusion,thehysteresisbehaviorthatcanbeseenfromtheHIDsinFigure1,putforwardforthe rsttimebyMiyamotoetal.(1995),wasfoundwithRXTEtobeacharacteristicpatternforblack-holetran-sients.Despitemanycomplexities,generalfeatureshavebeenshowntorelatetotheejectionofpowerfulrelativisticjets,whichcanleadtoadeeperunderstandingofthephysicalpropertiesoftheaccretion ow.

We discuss the evolution of black hole transients on the basis of a few systems that were intensively observed with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We focus on the global evolution and the observed state transitions. Rather than giving a numerical recipe

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Thepicturepresentedhere,scaledtolongertimescales,shouldalsobevalidforAGNs.Inthesesources,thereisnocontributionoftheopticallythickaccretiondiskintheX-rayband,butthepathshowninFig.5isqualitativelysimilarifthediskcontributionisremoved.Recently,Cui(2004)presentedaverysimilardiagramfortheRXTEobservationsofthehighlyvariableAGNMkn421,showingthatindeedtheschemeofaccretionstatescouldapplytosystemsoveralargescalesofmasses.

JHwishestothankJonMillerandRonRemillardfornumerousdis-cussionsonthetopicofblack-holestates.

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