Discovery of optical and infrared accretion disc wind signatures in the black hole candidate MAXI J1348–630

¹ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Vía Láctea, La Laguna, 38205 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
e-mail: guayente.panizo@gmail.es
² Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, 38206 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
³ Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA), University of Turku, Väisäläntie 20, 21500 Piikkiö, Finland
⁴ Aalto University Metsähovi Radio Observatory, PO Box 11000 00076 Aalto, Finland
⁵ Institutt for Fysikk, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
⁶ European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla, 19001 Santiago, Chile
⁷ Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK
⁸ Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
⁹ Australian Astronomical Optics, Macquarie University, 105 Delhi Rd, North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia
¹⁰ Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera, Via E. Bianchi 46, 23807 Merate (LC), Italy
¹¹ Max-Planck-Institut fur Extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, 85748 Garching, Germany
¹² Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK

Received: 25 February 2022
Accepted: 26 May 2022

Abstract

MAXI J1348–630 is a low mass X-ray binary discovered in 2019 during a bright outburst. During this event, the system experienced both hard and soft states following the standard evolution. We present multi-epoch optical and near-infrared spectroscopy obtained with X-shooter at the Very Large Telescope. Our dataset includes spectra taken during the brightest phases of the outburst as well as the decay towards quiescence. We study the evolution of the main emission lines, paying special attention to the presence of features commonly associated with accretion disc winds, such as blueshifted absorptions, broad emission line wings and flat-top profiles. We find broad emission line wings in Hα during the hard-to-soft transition and blueshifted absorption troughs at ∼ − 500 km s⁻¹ in Hβ, He I–5876, Hα and Paβ during the bright soft-intermediate state. In addition, flat-top profiles are seen throughout the outburst. We interpret these observables as signatures of a cold (i.e., optical-to-infrared) accretion disc wind present in the system. We discuss the properties of the wind and compare them with those seen in other X-ray transients. In particular, the wind velocity that we observe is low when compared to those of other systems, which might be a direct consequence of the relatively low binary inclination, as suggested by several observables. This study strengthens the hypothesis that cold winds are a common feature in low mass X-ray binaries and that they can also be detected in low inclination objects via high-quality optical and infrared spectroscopy.