Disk-jet coupling in the Galactic black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1836-194
Abstract
There is a universal connection between the accretion and ejection phenomena that are observed in black holes across the mass scale. Quantifying this relationship is the first step in understanding how jets are launched, accelerated and collimated. X-ray binaries are ideal systems to study this relationship, as they evolve on human timescales. In outburst, their luminosities increase by several orders of magnitude, with the thermal X-ray emission from the accretion disk and the radio emission from the relativistic jets undergoing dramatic, coupled changes. We present the results of our multiwavelength radio through to X-ray observations of the Galactic black hole candidate X-ray binary MAXI J1836-194 during its 2011 outburst. We find that this system has a near face-on accretion disk with the jet, that is pointed almost directly towards us, accounting for ~6% of the total energy output of the system early in the outburst. We observed the frequency of the transition from optically thick to optically thin synchrotron emission in the jet spectrum evolve by ~3 orders of magnitude as the jet gradually switches on and off on a timescale of a few weeks. This evolution does not appear to follow the expected positive relation with source luminosity. Instead the jet break shifted to higher frequencies as the source luminosity decreased and is likely coupled to the accretion flow in a more complex way. We find the region where the jet is accelerated up to relativistic speeds occurs at much larger distances from the black hole than previously thought and does not scale with the inner radius of the accretion disk. Our simultaneous, high cadence observations provide an unprecedented insight into the accretion processes occurring during an outburst, allowing us to observe the compact jet evolve and the corresponding changes within the accretion regime. This has implications for the launching of jets on all scales, from X-ray binaries to their larger-scale analogues, AGN.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #223
- Pub Date:
- January 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014AAS...22315531R