A universal radio-X-ray correlation in low/hard state black hole binaries

By E. Gallo, Robert P. Fender, G. Pooley. 2003

587 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Several independent lines of evidence now point to a connection between the physical processes that govern radio (i.e. jet) and X-ray emission from accreting X-ray binaries. We present a comprehensive study of (quasi-)simultaneous radio-X-ray observations of stellar black hole binaries during the spectrally hard X-ray state, finding evidence for a strong correlation between these two bands over more than three orders of magnitude in X-ray luminosity. The correlation extends from the quiescent regime up to close to the soft state transition, where radio emission starts to decline, sometimes below detectable levels, probably corresponding to the physical disappearance ofthe jet. The X-ray transient V404 Cygni is found to display the same functional relationship already reported for GX 339-4 between radio and X-ray flux, namely S r a d i o α S + 0 . 7 X. In fact, the data for all low/hard state black holes is consistent with a universal relation between the radio and X-ray luminosity of the form L r a d i o α L + 0 . 7 X. Under the hypothesis of common physics driving the disc-jet coupling in different sources, the observed spread to the best-fitting relation can be interpreted in terms of a distribution in Doppler factors and hence used to constrain the bulk Lorentz factors of both the radio- and X-ray-emitting regions. Monte Carlo simulations show that, assuming little or no X-ray beaming, the measured scatter in radio power is consistent with Lorentz factors? 2 for the outflows in the low/hard state, significantly less relativistic than the jets associated with X-ray transients. When combined radio and X-ray beaming is considered, the range of possible jet bulk velocities significantly broadens, allowing highly relativistic outflows, but therefore implying severe X-ray selection effects. If the radio luminosity scales as the total jet power raised to x > 0.7, then there exists an X-ray luminosity below which most of the accretion power will be channelled into the jet, rather than into X-rays. For x = 1.4, as in several optically thick jet models, the power output of 'quiescent' black holes may be jet-dominated below L X ≃ 4 × 10 - 5 L E d d .

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b1bd439cd25a08d7bafba969215463d5afc20491

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Citations in the corpus

Using the Fundamental Plane of black hole activity to distinguish X-ray processes from weakly accreting black holes (2011, background): “When more luminous (softstate, thermally dominated) GBHs are included with higher accretion rates, the radio jet is quenched and the correlation breaks down (Fender, Corbel & Tzioumis 1999; Gallo et al. 2003).”
Rapid optical and X-ray timing observations of GX 339-4: multi-component optical variability in the low/hard state (2010, background): “It is the prototype source for defining an important relationship between the radio and X-ray fluxes of XRBs (e.g. Corbel et al. 2000; Gallo et al. 2003).”
A Unified Model for Black Hole X-Ray Binary Jets? (2004, background): “GX 339-4 is also a key source in our understanding of the discjet coupling in X-ray binaries (Fender et al. 1999b; Corbel et al. 2000, 2003; Gallo et al. 2003; Belloni et al. 2004), albeit one which varies on timescales considerably longer than in GRS 1915+105.”
Global optical/infrared-X-ray correlations in X-ray binaries: quantifying disc and jet contributions (2006, methodology): “The jet component at radio wavelengths is known to decrease/increase in transition to/from the soft X-ray state, due to the quenching of the jets in the soft state (e.g. Gallo et al. 2003).”
Radio Loudness of Active Galactic Nuclei: Observational Facts and Theoretical Implications (2006, background): “Gallo et al. (2003) discovered that radio luminosities of black hole binaries in low/hard states (i.e., at low accretion rates) correlate with X-ray luminosities, LX.”
Multiwavelength Observations of the 2002 Outburst of GX 339–4: Two Patterns of X-Ray-Optical/Near-Infrared Behavior (2005, methodology): “During these phases, SXTs brighten by many orders of magnitude at almost all wavelengths.”
A unified model for AGN feedback in cosmological simulations of structure formation (2007, background): “We are motivated by the growing theoretical and observational evidence (Fender et al., 1999; Gallo et al., 2003; Churazov et al., 2005; Heinz et al., 2005; Croton et al., 2006) that AGN feedback is composed of two modes, analogous to states of X-ray binaries.”
A Fundamental plane of black hole activity (2003, result): “(3): logLR = (0.60 +0.11 −0.11) logLX+(0.78 +0.11 −0.09) logM+7.33 +4.05 −4.07(5) The value we obtain for theξRX correlation coefficient is consistent, within the errors, with that found in GBH (ξRX ≈ 0.7) by Gallo et al. (2003).”
Radiatively efficient accreting black holes in the hard state: the case study of H1743-322 (2011, background): “5 the hard state data from H1743−322, GX 339-4 (the data cover 7 outbursts over the period 1997–2010 and will be detailed in Corbel et al. [in preparation]), V404 Cyg (Gallo et al. 2003; Corbel et al. 2008) and the atoll neutron stars Aql X-1 (Tudose et al. 2009; Miller-Jones et al. 2010a) and 4U 17”
NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF HOT ACCRETION FLOWS. II. NATURE, ORIGIN, AND PROPERTIES OF OUTFLOWS AND THEIR POSSIBLE OBSERVATIONAL APPLICATIONS (2012, background): “The Lorentz factor of jets is different for AGNs and black hole X-ray binaries, and reasonable values are Γjet ∼ a few and Γjet ∼ 1, respectively (Gallo et al. 2003).”
Going with the Flow: Can the Base of Jets Subsume the Role of Compact Accretion Disk Coronae? (2005, background): “Such weak beaming factors are suggested by observations of HS jets (Maccarone 2003; Gallo et al. 2003), in contrast to the near light-speed velocities implied by superluminal motion in higher luminosity radio-emitting states.”
GRS 1915+105 and the Disc-Jet Coupling in Accreting Black Hole Systems (2004, background): “Furthermore, the radio quenching in Cyg X-1 (Gallo et al. 2003) may also be associated with a transition to the IS and not the true HS.”
A global spectral study of black hole X-ray binaries (2009, unknown): “Using a larger sample of black hole X-ray binaries Gallo et al. (2003) showed this relation to apply to essentially all binaries.”
THE FUNDAMENTAL PLANE OF ACCRETION ONTO BLACK HOLES WITH DYNAMICAL MASSES (2009, unknown): “7X (Gallo et al. 2003).”
Supermassive black holes in elliptical galaxies: switching from very bright to very dim (2005, background): “In this state the kinetic power of radio emitting outflows can significantly exceed their radiative power both in AGNs and binaries (e.g. Owen et al. 2000; Gallo et al. 2003).”