2003/02/28 by M. R. Garcia, J. M. Miller, J. E. McClintock +2 · 27 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Accretion disc #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysical jet #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Black hole (networking) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Jet (fluid) #Orbital period #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/375218
published in The Astrophysical Journal 591(1), 388-396 (IOP Publishing) · 19 pages, accepted to ApJ 07 March, spectral types added to table
arxiv created 2003/03/18 · openalex publication_date 2003/07/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
In this brief note we point out that the four spatially resolved relativistic jets among the 14 dynamically confirmed black hole X-ray novae are all in systems with long orbital periods. Many shorter period systems show transient radio outbursts that are attributed to jets, but these jets have not been spatially resolved. Super-Eddington accretion has been suggested as a requirement for jet formation and may be consistent with our compilation of luminosities, but some super-Eddington outbursts did not form spatially resolved jets. We speculate that some as yet unknown process (or combination of processes) favors formation of substantially larger jets in long-period systems. Two short-period systems show evidence of being extended, but have not been resolved into multiple components, as the long-period systems have.