A transient radio jet in an erupting dwarf nova
Abstract
Astrophysical jets seem to occur in nearly all types of accreting objects: from supermassive black holes to young stellar objects. Based on X-ray binaries, a unified scenario describing the disc/jet coupling has evolved and extended to many accreting objects. The only major exceptions are thought to be cataclysmic variables: Dwarf novae, weakly accreting white dwarfs, show similar outburst behaviour as X-ray binaries but no jet has yet been detected. Here we present radio observations of a dwarf nova in outburst showing variable flat-spectrum radio emission that is best explained as synchrotron emission originating in a transient jet. Both the inferred jet power and the relation to the outburst cycle are analogous to those seen in X-ray binaries, suggesting that the disc/jet coupling mechanism is ubiquitous.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0806.1002,
title = {A transient radio jet in an erupting dwarf nova},
author = {Elmar Koerding and Michael Rupen and Christian Knigge and Rob Fender and Vivek Dhawan and Matthew Templeton and Tom Muxlow},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0806.1002},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
Published in Science on 6 June 2008, corrected typos