Radio & X-ray detections of GX 339--4 in quiescence using MeerKAT and Swift

Abstract

The radio:X-ray correlation that characterises accreting black holes at all mass scales - from stellar mass black holes in binary systems to super-massive black holes powering Active Galactic Nuclei - is one of the most important pieces of observational evidence supporting the existence of a connection between the accretion process and the generation of collimated outflows - or jets - in accreting systems. Although recent studies suggest that the correlation extends down to low luminosities, only a handful of stellar mass black holes have been clearly detected, and in general only upper limits (especially at radio wavelengths) can be obtained during quiescence. We recently obtained detections of the black hole X-ray binary GX 339--4 in quiescence using the MeerKAT radio telescope and Swift X-ray Telescope instrument onboard the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, probing the lower end of the radio:X-ray correlation. We present the properties of accretion and of the connected generation of jets in the poorly studied low-accretion rate regime for this canonical black hole XRB system.

5 pages, 2 figure, accepted to MNRAS

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• 21 new long-term variables in the GX 339-4 field: two years of MeerKAT monitoring
• Observations of the Disk/Jet Coupling of MAXI J1820+070 During its Descent to Quiescence
• A MeerKAT Survey of Nearby Novalike Cataclysmic Variables
• Radio observations of the Black Hole X-ray Binary EXO 1846-031 re-awakening from a 34-year slumber
• Bursts from Space: MeerKAT - The first citizen science project dedicated to commensal radio transients
• Toward a Larger Sample of Radio Jets from Quiescent Black Hole X-ray Binaries
• MeerKAT radio detection of the Galactic black hole candidate Swift J1842.5-1124 during its 2020 outburst
• The flickering radio jet from the quiescent black hole X-ray binary A0620-00
• The Origin of Radio Emission in Black Hole X-ray Binaries
• The black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1348$-$630 in quiescence