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1. a, Results for a one-component variable diskbb model applied to all phase-resolved spectra. In the last row, we report the ratio between the observed phase-dependent 0.2–2 keV luminosity and that during the pre-QPE phase (Qpre). Together with the corresponding measured disk temperatures, this shows that the variable emission does not follow the L ∝ T4 relation, and thus that variability in the global mass accretion rate is not a viable description of the QPE phenomenon. b, Results for a two-component thermal model in which the diskbb model parameters are forced to be phase-independent (that is, constant throughout the cycle) representing a stable (likely outer) disk, and the QPE evolution is described by an additional variable bbody component. Lconst and Lvar. in b refer to the 0.2–2 keV unabsorbed luminosities of the constant (diskbb) and variable (bbody) thermal models, characterized by kTconst and kTvar, respectively. Errors represent the 90% confidence level uncertainties.

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