A relativistic jet from Cygnus X-1 in the low/hard X-ray state

We present the detection of a radio-emitting jet from the black hole candidate and X-ray binary source Cygnus X-1. Evidence of a bright core with a slightly extended structure was found on milliarcsecond resolution observations with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at 15.4 GHz. Later observations...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2001-11, Vol.327 (4), p.1273-1278
Main Authors: Stirling, A.M., Spencer, R.E., de La Force, C.J., Garrett, M.A., Fender, R.P., Ogley, R.N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
binaries: close
ISM: jets and outflows
stars: individual: Cygnus X-1
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We present the detection of a radio-emitting jet from the black hole candidate and X-ray binary source Cygnus X-1. Evidence of a bright core with a slightly extended structure was found on milliarcsecond resolution observations with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) at 15.4 GHz. Later observations with the VLBA [and including the phased-up, Very Large Array (VLA)] at 8.4 GHz show an extended jet-like feature extending to ∼ 15 mas from a core region, with an opening angle of < 2°. In addition, lower resolution MERLIN observations at 5 GHz show that the source has < 10 per cent linear polarization. The source was in the low/hard X-ray state during the observations, and the results confirm the existence of persistent radio emission from an unresolved core and a variable, relativistic (> 0.6c) jet during this state.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04821.x