Synchronous X-ray/optical quasi-periodic oscillations from the black hole LMXB MAXI J1820+070

We present high-speed optical photometry from SAAO and SALT on the black hole LMXB MAXI J1820+070 (ASSASN-18ey), some of it simultaneous with NICER, Swift, and Insight-HXMT X-ray coverage. We detect optical quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) that move to higher frequencies as the outburst progresses, tracking both the frequency and evolution of similar X-ray QPOs previously reported. Correlated X-ray/optical data reveal a complex pattern of lags, including an anticorrelation and a sub-second lag that evolve over the first few weeks of outburst. They also show correlated components separated by a lag equal to the QPO period roughly centered on zero lag, implying that the inter-band variability is strongly and consistently affected by these QPOs at a constant phase lag of roughly ±π. The synchronization of X-ray and optical QPOs indicates that they must be produced in regions physically very close to each other; we, thus, propose that they can be explained by a precessing jet model, based on analogies with V404 Cyg and MAXI J1348-630.