Swift UVOT observations of the 2015 outburst of V404 Cygni

The black hole binary, V404 Cygni, went into outburst in 2015 June, after 26 years of X-ray quiescence. We observed the outburst with the Neil Gehrels Swift observatory. We present optical/UV observations taken with the Swift Ultra-violet Optical Telescope, and compare them with the X-ray observations obtained with the Swift X-ray Telescope. We find that dust extinction affecting the optical/UV does not correlate with absorption due to neutral hydrogen that affects the X-ray emission. We suggest there is a small inhomogeneous high-density absorber containing a negligible amount of dust, close to the black hole. Overall, temporal variations in the optical/UV appear to trace those in the X-rays. During some epochs we observe an optical time-lag of (15–35) s. For both the optical/UV and X-rays, the amplitude of the variations correlates with flux, but this correlation is less significant in the optical/UV. The variability in the light curves may be produced by a complex combination of processes. Some of the X-ray variability may be due to the presence of a local, inhomogeneous and dust-free absorber, while variability visible in both the X-ray and optical/UV may instead be driven by the accretion flow: the X-rays are produced in the inner accretion disc, some of which are reprocessed to the optical/UV; and/or the X-ray and optical/UV emission is produced within the jet. © 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society
SRO gratefully acknowledges the support of the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship. AJCT and SRO acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry, Project Number AYA2012-39727-C03-01. SEM acknowledges the Violette and Samuel Glasstone Research Fellowship program and the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) for financial support. PG thanks STFC and UKIERI for support. This work was also supported by the UK Space Agency.