English

Extreme Jet Ejections from the Black Hole X-ray Binary V404 Cygni

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2017-06-21 v1

Abstract

We present simultaneous radio through sub-mm observations of the black hole X-ray binary (BHXB) V404 Cygni during the most active phase of its June 2015 outburst. Our 44 hour long set of overlapping observations with the Very Large Array, the Sub-millimeter Array, and the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (SCUBA-2), covers 8 different frequency bands (including the first detection of a BHXB jet at 666GHz/450μm666 \,{\rm GHz}/450\mu m), providing an unprecedented multi-frequency view of the extraordinary flaring activity seen during this period of the outburst. In particular, we detect multiple rapidly evolving flares, which reach Jy-level fluxes across all of our frequency bands. With this rich data set we performed detailed MCMC modeling of the repeated flaring events. Our custom model adapts the van der Laan synchrotron bubble model to include twin bi-polar ejections, propagating away from the black hole at bulk relativistic velocities, along a jet axis that is inclined to the line of sight. The emission predicted by our model accounts for projection effects, relativistic beaming, and the geometric time delay between the approaching and receding ejecta in each ejection event. We find that a total of 8 bi-polar, discrete jet ejection events can reproduce the emission that we observe in all of our frequency bands remarkably well. With our best fit model, we provide detailed probes of jet speed, structure, energetics, and geometry. Our analysis demonstrates the paramount importance of the mm/sub-mm bands, which offer a unique, more detailed view of the jet than can be provided by radio frequencies alone.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1704.08726,
  title  = {Extreme Jet Ejections from the Black Hole X-ray Binary V404 Cygni},
  author = {A. J. Tetarenko and G. R. Sivakoff and J. C. A Miller-Jones and E. W. Rosolowsky and G. Petitpas and M. Gurwell and J. Wouterloot and R. Fender and S. Heinz and D. Maitra and S. B. Markoff and S. Migliari and M. P. Rupen and A. P. Rushton and D. M. Russell and T. D. Russell and C. L. Sarazin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1704.08726},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

25 pages, 11 figures, Accepted to MNRAS

R2 v1 2026-06-22T19:30:15.338Z