2004/10/31 by Katherine M. Blundell, Katherine Blundell, Michael G. Bowler +1 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/429663
published as Astrophys.J. 622 (2005) L129-L132 · accepted by ApJ Letters
arxiv created 2005/02/15 · openalex publication_date 2005/02/25 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We present a reanalysis of the optical spectroscopic data on SS 433 from the last quarter-century and demonstrate that these data alone contain systematic and identifiable deviations from the traditional kinematic model for the jets: variations in speed, which agree with our analysis of recent radio data, in precession-cone angle, and in phase. We present a simple technique for separating out the jet speed from the angular properties of the jet axis, assuming only that the jets are symmetric. With this technique, the archival optical data reveal that the variations in jet speed and in precession-cone angle are anticorrelated in the sense that when faster jet bolides are ejected the cone opening angle is smaller. We also find speed oscillations as a function of orbital phase.