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    Lorentz Factors of Compact Jets in Black Hole X-Ray Binaries

    80249.pdf (7.144Mb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Saikia, P.
    Russell, D.M.
    Bramich, D.M.
    Miller-Jones, James
    Baglio, M.C.
    Degenaar, N.
    Date
    2019
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Saikia, P. and Russell, D.M. and Bramich, D.M. and Miller-Jones, J.C.A. and Baglio, M.C. and Degenaar, N. 2019. Lorentz Factors of Compact Jets in Black Hole X-Ray Binaries. Astrophysical Journal. 887 (1): ARTN 21.
    Source Title
    Astrophysical Journal
    DOI
    10.3847/1538-4357/ab4a09
    ISSN
    0004-637X
    Faculty
    Faculty of Science and Engineering
    School
    School of Elec Eng, Comp and Math Sci (EECMS)
    Funding and Sponsorship
    http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT140101082
    Remarks

    Copyright © 2019 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/80167
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    © 2019. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. Compact, continuously launched jets in black hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs) produce radio to optical/IR synchrotron emission. In most BHXBs, an IR excess (above the disk component) is observed when the jet is present in the hard spectral state. We investigate why some BHXBs have prominent IR excesses and some do not, quantified by the amplitude of the IR quenching or recovery over the transition from/to the hard state. We find that the amplitude of the IR excess can be explained by inclination-dependent beaming of the jet synchrotron emission and the projected area of the accretion disk. Furthermore, we see no correlation between the expected and the observed IR excess for Lorentz factor 1, which is strongly supportive of relativistic beaming of the IR emission, confirming that the IR excess is produced by synchrotron emission in a relativistic outflow. Using the amplitude of the jet fade and recovery over state transitions and the known orbital parameters, we constrain for the first time the bulk Lorentz factor range of compact jets in several BHXBs (with all the well-constrained Lorentz factors lying in the range of Γ = 1.3-3.5). Under the assumption that the Lorentz factor distribution of BHXB jets is a power law, we find that N(Γ) ∝ Γ-1.88-0.34+0.27. We also find that the very high amplitude IR fade/recovery seen repeatedly in the BHXB GX 339-4 favors a low inclination angle (≤ 5°) of the jet.

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