The power of jets: new clues from radio circular polarization and x-rays

• Main Authors: Heino Falcke, Thomas Beckert, Sera Markoff, Elmar Körding, Geoffrey C, Rob Fender
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: North Pole; Ray Point
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.255.8024; http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0111356v1.pdf

Abstract. Jets are ubiquitous in accreting black holes. Often ignored, they may be a major contributor to the emitted spectral energy distribution for sub-Eddington black holes. For example, recent observations of radio-to-X-ray correlations and broad band spectra of X-ray binaries in the low/hard state can be explained by a significant synchrotron contribution from jets also to their IR-to-X-ray spectrum as proposed by 14). This model can also explain state-transitions from low/hard to high/soft states. Relativistic beaming of the jet X-ray emission could lead to the appearance of seemingly Super-Eddington X-rays sources in other galaxies. We show that a simple population synthesis model of X-ray binaries with relativistic beaming can well explain the currently found distribution of off-nucleus X-ray point sources in nearby galaxies. Specifically we suggest that the so-called ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs, also IXOs) could well be relativistically beamed microblazars. The same model that can be used to explain X-ray binaries also fits Low-Luminosity AGN (LLAGN) and especially Sgr A * in the Galactic Center. The recent detection of significant circular polarization in AGN radio cores, ranging from bright quasars down to low-luminosity AGN like M81*, Sgr A * and even X-ray binaries, now places additional new constraints on the matter contents of such jets. The emerging picture are powerful jets with a mix of hot and cold matter, a net magnetic flux, and a stable magnetic north pole. 1