MeerKAT

Abstract:

JWST observed the magnetar 4U 0142+61 with the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) and Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instruments within a 77 minute time interval on 2022 September 20–21. The low-resolution MIRI spectrum and NIRCam photometry show that the spectrum in the wavelength range 1.4–11 μm range can be satisfactorily described by an absorbed power-law (PL) model, f ν ∝ ν −α , with a spectral slope α = 0.96 ± 0.02, interstellar extinction A V = 3.9 ± 0.2, and normalization f 0 = 59.4 ± 0.5 μJy at λ = 8 μm. These observations do not support the passive disk model proposed in 2006 by Wang, Chakrabarty and Kaplan, based on Spitzer photometry, which was interpreted as evidence for a fallback disk from debris formed during the supernova explosion. We suggest a nonthermal origin for this emission and source variability as the most likely cause of discrepancies between the JWST data and other IR-optical observing campaigns. However, we cannot firmly exclude the presence of a large disk with a different dependence of the effective disk temperature on distance from the magnetar. Comparison with the PL fit to the hard X-ray spectrum above 10 keV, measured by the NuSTAR contemporaneously with JWST, shows that the X-ray spectrum is significantly harder. This may imply that the X-ray and IR nonthermal emission come from different sites in the magnetosphere of the magnetar.

Abstract:

Relativistic discrete ejecta launched by black hole X-ray binaries (BH XRBs) can be observed to propagate up to parsec-scales from the central object. Observing the final deceleration phase of these jets is crucial to estimate their physical parameters and to reconstruct their full trajectory, with implications for the jet powering mechanism, composition, and formation. In this paper, we present the results of the modelling of the motion of the ejecta from three BH XRBs: MAXI J1820+070, MAXI J1535–571, and XTE J1752–223, for which high-resolution radio and X-ray observations of jets propagating up to ~15 arcsec (⁠~0.6 pc at 3 kpc) from the core have been published in the recent years. For each jet, we modelled its entire motion with a dynamical blast-wave model, inferring robust values for the jet Lorentz factor, inclination angle and ejection time. Under several assumptions associated to the ejection duration, the jet opening angle and the available accretion power, we are able to derive stringent constraints on the maximum jet kinetic energy for each source (between 10⁴³ and 10⁴⁴ erg, including also H1743–322), as well as placing interesting upper limits on the density of the ISM through which the jets are propagating (from n_ism≲0.4 cm⁻³ cm down to n_ism≲10−4 cm⁻³⁠). Overall, our results highlight the potential of applying models derived from gamma-ray bursts to the physics of jets from BH XRBs and support the emerging picture of these sources as preferentially embedded in low-density environments.