Mapping the core and lobes of the extraordinary FRII microquasar in NGC 7793
Abstract
We have discovered an extraordinary microquasar in NGC 7793, with all the textbook physical structures of an FRII radio galaxy: an X-ray/optical core, X-ray and radio hot spots, radio lobes, and a large cocoon with radio, X-ray and optical line emission. It reveals a new class of accreting black holes dominated by mechanical power even at high accretion rates; it is the missing link between ordinary microquasars and ultraluminous X-ray sources.After studying the system with radio, X-ray and ground-based optical telescopes, we propose a WFC3/UVIS study. We will: a} resolve and constrain the nature of the black hole counterpart; b} map density structures in the nebula {knots, filaments}, measure their UV and optical line flux, and model the shock excitation process;c} resolve the forward and reverse shock, and map the outer edge of the expanding shell; d} study the age and metallicity of the surrounding stellar population.Our goals are to determine the mass and total radiative and mechanical power of the black hole, model how the power is transferred to the ambient medium, and how the accretion/ejection properties scale between non-nuclear stellar-mass black holes and supermassive black holes in radio galaxies.
- Publication:
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HST Proposal
- Pub Date:
- September 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010hst..prop12285S