2013MNRAS.433.3453D

We studied the energy and frequency dependence of the Fourier time lags and intrinsic coherence of the kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations (kHz QPOs) in the neutron-star low-mass X-ray binaries 4U 1608-52 and 4U 1636-53, using a large data set obtained with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer. We confirmed that, in both sources, the time lags of the lower kHz QPO are soft and their magnitude increases with energy. We also found that: (i) In 4U 1636-53, the soft lags of the lower kHz QPO remain constant at ∼ 30µs in the QPO frequency range 500-850Hz, and decrease to ∼ 10µs when the QPO frequency increases further. In 4U 1608-52, the soft lags of the lower kHz QPO remain constant at 40µs up to 800Hz, the highest frequency reached by this QPO in our data. (ii) In both sources, the time lags of the upper kHz QPO are hard, independent of energy or frequency and inconsistent with the soft lags of the lower kHz QPO. (iii) In both sources the intrinsic coherence of the lower kHz QPO remains constant at ∼ 0.6 between 5 and 12keV, and drops to zero above that energy. The intrinsic coherence of the upper kHz QPO is consistent with being zero across the full energy range. (iv) In 4U 1636-53, the intrinsic coherence of the lower kHz QPO increases from ∼ 0 at ∼ 600Hz to ∼ 1, and it decreases to ∼ 0.5 at 920Hz; in 4U 1608-52, the intrinsic coherence is consistent with the same trend. (v) In both sources the intrinsic coherence of the upper kHz QPO is consistent with zero over the full frequency range of the QPO, except in 4U 1636-53 between 700 and 900Hz where the intrinsic coherence marginally increases. We discuss our results in the context of scenarios in which the soft lags are either due to reflection off the accretion disc or up-/down-scattering in a hot medium close to the neutron star. We finally explore the connection between, on one hand the time lags and the intrinsic coherence of the kHz QPOs, and on the other the QPOs' amplitude and quality factor in these two sources.