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Jets at lowest mass accretion rates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2011

Dipankar Maitra
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA48109 email: dmaitra@umich.edu, jonmm@umich.edu
Andrew Cantrell
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy, Yale UniversityNew Haven, CT, USA06511 email: andrew.cantrell@yale.edu, charles.bailyn@yale.edu
Sera Markoff
Affiliation:
Astronomical Institute “Anton Pannekoek”, University of Amsterdam 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands email: s.b.markoff@uva.nl
Heino Falcke
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy, Radboud University 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands email: H.Falcke@astro.ru.nl
Jon Miller
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA48109 email: dmaitra@umich.edu, jonmm@umich.edu
Charles Bailyn
Affiliation:
Dept. of Astronomy, Yale UniversityNew Haven, CT, USA06511 email: andrew.cantrell@yale.edu, charles.bailyn@yale.edu
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Abstract

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We present results of recent observations and theoretical modeling of data from black holes accreting at very low luminosities (L/LEdd ≲ 10−8). We discuss our newly developed time-dependent model for episodic ejection of relativistic plasma within a jet framework, and a successful application of this model to describe the origin of radio flares seen in Sgr A*, the Galactic center black hole. Both the observed time lags and size-frequency relationships are reproduced well by the model. We also discuss results from new Spitzer data of the stellar black hole X-ray binary system A0620–00. Complemented by long term SMARTS monitoring, these observations indicate that once the contribution from the accretion disk and the donor star are properly included, the residual mid-IR spectral energy distribution of A0620–00 is quite flat and consistent with a non-thermal origin. The results above suggest that a significant fraction of the observed spectral energy distribution originating near black holes accreting at low luminosities could result from a mildly relativistic outflow. The fact that these outflows are seen in both stellar-mass black holes as well as in supermassive black holes at the heart of AGNs strengthens our expectation that accretion and jet physics scales with mass.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

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