Mapping jet–ISM interactions in X-ray binaries with ALMA: a GRS 1915+105 case study

Tetarenko, Alexandra J.; Freeman, Pamela; Rosolowsky, Erik; Miller-Jones, J. C. A.; Sivakoff, G. R.

doi:10.1093/mnras/stx3151

Cited by 22 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 111 publications

(176 reference statements)

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“…As jets inject large amounts of energy into the interstellar region, they are expected to influence the surrounding medium. Tetarenko et al (2018Tetarenko et al ( , 2020 present the detection of several transition spectral lines, which supports the presence of an interaction region between MQ jets and the interstellar medium (ISM). However, the authors find that the interaction region lies at much smaller scales than postulated in previous works.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Cosmic-ray production from neutron escape in microquasar jets

Escobar,

Pellizza,

Romero

2021

Preprint

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Context. The origin of Galactic cosmic rays remains a matter of debate, but supernova remnants are commonly considered to be the main place where high-energy cosmic rays are accelerated. Nevertheless, current models predict cosmic-ray spectra that do not match observations and the efficiency of the acceleration mechanism is still undetermined. On the other hand, the contribution of other kinds of sources to the Galactic cosmic-ray population is still unclear, and merits investigation. Aims. In this work we explore a novel mechanism through which microquasars might produce cosmic rays. In this scenario, microquasar jets generate relativistic neutrons, which escape and decay outside the system; protons and electrons, created when these neutrons decay, escape to the interstellar medium as cosmic rays. Methods. We introduce the relativistic neutron component through a coupling term in the transport equation that governs the jet proton population. We compute the escape rate and decay distribution of these neutrons, and follow the propagation of the decay products until they escape the system and become cosmic rays. We then compute the spectra of these cosmic rays. Results. Neutrons can drain only a small fraction of the jet power as cosmic rays. The most promising scenarios arise in extremely luminous systems (L jet ∼ 10 40 erg s −1 ), in which the fraction of jet power deposited in cosmic rays can reach ∼ 0.001. Slow jets (Γ 2, where Γ is the bulk Lorentz factor) favour neutron production. The resulting cosmic-ray spectrum is similar for protons and electrons, which share the power in the ratio given by neutron decay. The spectrum peaks at roughly half the minimum energy of the relativistic protons in the jet; it is soft (spectral index ∼ 3) above this energy, and almost flat below. Conclusions. The proposed mechanism produces more energetic cosmic rays from microquasars than those presented by previous works in which the particles escape through the jet terminal shock. Values of spectral index steeper than 2 are possible for cosmic rays in our model and these indeed agree with those required to explain the spectral signatures of Galactic cosmic rays, although only the most extreme microquasars provide power comparable to that of a typical supernova remnant. The mechanism explored in this work may provide stronger and softer cosmic-ray sources in the early Universe, and therefore contribute to the heating and reionisation of the intergalactic medium.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Cosmic-ray production from neutron escape in microquasar jets

Escobar,

Pellizza,

Romero

2021

Preprint

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“…Pakull et al 2010) that are generally identified with (extragalactic) XRBs containing NSs or stellar-mass BHs and accreting well above the Eddington limit, or, in a few cases, intermediate-mass BHs accreting at the Eddington limit. However, in our galaxy, and despite extensive searches for signatures of an interaction be-tween XRB jets and the ISM (Miller-Jones et al 2008, and references therein), direct observational evidence of jet-inflated bubbles has only been reported in two cases (Dubner et al 1998;Gallo et al 2005;Russell et al 2007); one of these two cases, SS 433, is the only known galactic ultra-luminous X-ray source (Begelman et al 2006 and Chaty et al (2001), Tetarenko et al (2018) searched for molecular line emission in the IRAS 19132+1035 region near the microquasar GRS 1915+105. They identified a zone with significant molecular line emission that could be traced back to a jet-ISM interaction but concluded that the jet did not appear to be powering the entire region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 78%

A search for signatures of interactions of X-ray binary outflows with their environments with ALMA

Trigo¹,

Petry²,

Humphreys

et al. 2021

A&A

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We observed the X-ray binaries Cir X-1, Sco X-1, GRS 1915+105, GX 13+1, and Cyg X-1 with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Unresolved continuum emission is found at the positions of all the sources at a frequency of 92 GHz, with flux densities ranging between 0.8 and 10 mJy beam−1. In all cases the emission can be associated with jets that have been extensively observed at lower frequencies. We searched for line emission from Hα recombination, SiO, H2O, and CH3OH at the positions of all the sources and, for Cir X-1 and Cyg X-1, also at regions where shocks associated with an interaction between the jet and the interstellar medium had previously been observed. The search did not yield any significant detection, resulting in 3σ upper limits between 0.65 and 3.7 K km s−1 for the existence of line emission in these regions. In contrast, we detected spatially unresolved SiO emission in the field of view of GX 13+1, and we tentatively associate this emission with a SiO maser in a potential young stellar object or evolved star. We also found spatially extended line emission at two additional sites in the field of view of GX 13+1 that we tentatively associate with emission from SO and CH3OH; we speculate that it may be associated with a star-forming region, but again we cannot rule out alternative origins such as emission from evolved stars.

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“…In our previous study of the jet interaction sites near GRS 1915+105, we found that the energy released by the high mass star formation process, in addition to a BHXB jet, was powering the radio lobe structure to the south of the central source (Tetarenko et al 2018). However, in the cases of both GRS 1758−258 and 1E 1740.7−2942, there is a distinct lack of extended near-infrared emission (8µm and 5.8µm; see Spitzer GLIMPSE maps in Figures A1 and A2) in the fields surrounding the BHXBs, likely indicating a lack of high mass star formation activity occurring in these regions.…”

Section: Other Mechanisms Driving the Excited Molecular Emissionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Recently, Tetarenko et al (2018) performed a pilot study with ALMA, utilizing molecular line emission emitting across the sub-mm bands to characterize a candidate jet interaction zone near the BHXB GRS 1915+105. In this study, we found new kinematic and morphological evidence in the molecular gas supporting an association between the suspected impact site and the GRS 1915+105 jet, and we estimated the time-averaged power carried in the GRS 1915+105 jets from the ISM conditions at this site.…”

Section: Shocksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using a calorimetric approach, we can estimate the time averaged power that the BHXB jets would need to carry in order to create and maintain such structures in the local ISM. Following the model of Kaiser & Alexander 1997 (with the formalism outlined in §5.4 and Appendix C in Tetarenko et al 2018), the total jet power (averaged over the jet's lifetime) as a function of ISM properties at the impact sites can be represented as…”

Section: Deriving Jet Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Jet-ISM Interactions near the Microquasars GRS 1758-258 and 1E 1740.7-2942

Tetarenko,

Rosolowsky,

Miller-Jones

et al. 2020

Preprint

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We present Atacama Large Millimeter/Sub-millimeter Array observations of the candidate jet-ISM interaction zones near the black hole X-ray binaries GRS 1758−258 and 1E 1740.7−2942. Using these data, we map the molecular line emission in the regions, detecting emission from the HCNmolecular transitions. Through examining the morphological, spectral, and kinematic properties of this emission, we identify molecular structures that may trace jet-driven cavities in the gas surrounding these systems. Our results from the GRS 1758−258 region in particular, are consistent with recent work, which postulated the presence of a jet-blown cocoon structure in deep radio continuum maps of the region. Using these newly discovered molecular structures as calorimeters, we estimate the time averaged jet power from these systems, finding (1.1−5.7)×10 36 erg s −1 over 0.12−0.31 Myr for GRS 1758−258 and (0.7−3.5)×10 37 erg s −1 over 0.10 − 0.26 Myr for 1E 1740.7−2942. Additionally, the spectral line characteristics of the detected emission place these molecular structures in the central molecular zone of our Galaxy, thereby constraining the distances to the black hole X-ray binaries to be 8.0 ± 1.0 kpc. Overall, our analysis solidifies the diagnostic capacity of molecular lines, and highlights how astro-chemistry can both identify jet-ISM interaction zones and probe jet feedback from Galactic X-ray binaries.

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Mapping jet–ISM interactions in X-ray binaries with ALMA: a GRS 1915+105 case study

Cited by 22 publications

References 111 publications

Cosmic-ray production from neutron escape in microquasar jets

Cosmic-ray production from neutron escape in microquasar jets

A search for signatures of interactions of X-ray binary outflows with their environments with ALMA

Jet-ISM Interactions near the Microquasars GRS 1758-258 and 1E 1740.7-2942

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