Fast launch speeds in radio flares, from a new determination of the intrinsic motions of SS 433's jet bolides

Abstract

We present new high-resolution, multi-epoch, VLBA radio images of the Galactic microquasar SS 433. We are able to observe plasma knots in the milliarcsecond-scale jets more than 50 days after their launch. This unprecedented baseline in time allows us to determine the bulk launch speed of the radio-emitting plasma during a radio flare, using a new method which we present here, and which is completely independent of optical spectroscopy. We also apply this method to an earlier sequence of 39 short daily VLBA observations, which cover a period in which SS 433 moved from quiescence into a flare. In both datasets we find, for the first time at radio wavebands, clear evidence that the launch speeds of the milliarcsecond-scale jets rise as high as 0.32c during flaring episodes. By comparing these images of SS 433 with photometric radio monitoring from the RATAN telescope, we explore further properties of these radio flares.

arXiv comment9 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (12)

• The High Resolution X-ray Spectrum of SS 433 using the Chandra HETGS
• Symmetry in the changing jets of SS433 and its true distance from us
• Twenty Years of Timing SS433
• Images of an equatorial outflow in SS433
• The Distance to SS433/W50 and its Interaction with the ISM
• Uses and limitations of relativistic jet proper motions: lessons from galactic microquasars
• Aperture Synthesis Observations of the Nearby Spiral NGC 6503: Modeling the Thin and Thick HI Disks
• Fluctuations and symmetry in the speed and direction of the jets of SS433 on different timescales
• Jet velocity in SS433: its anti-correlation with precession-cone angle and dependence on orbital phase
• SS433's accretion disc, wind and jets: before, during and after a major flare
• Jet evolution, flux ratios and light-travel time effects
• The precession of SS433's radio ruff on long timescales

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Particle acceleration in astrophysical jets
• Dynamical Imaging with Interferometry
• LOFAR 150-MHz observations of SS 433 and W 50
• On the possibilities of high-energy neutrino production in the jets of microquasar SS433 in light of new observational data
• SS433's jet trace from ALMA imaging and Global Jet Watch spectroscopy: evidence for post-launch particle acceleration
• Intermittent QPO properties of MAXI J1820+070 revealed by Insight-HXMT
• Spectral and photometric variability of SS 433 observed with XRISM and simultaneous optical and near-infrared telescopes
• Radio Nebulæ from Hyper-Accreting X-ray Binaries as Common Envelope Precursors and Persistent Counterparts of Fast Radio Bursts