TUNA Lunch Talk:

James Miller-Jones

NRAO

Probing jet acceleration and collimation in stellar-mass compact objects

December 8

12:10PM, Room 230, NRAO, Edgemont Road

Abstract:

I will present a status update on our VLBA Key Science Project to investigate the accretion-ejection (disc-jet) coupling in accreting stellar-mass compact objects. There is a universal coupling between the processes of accretion and ejection, seen throughout the visible Universe, from young stellar objects to X-ray binaries, gamma-ray bursts and active galactic nuclei. Some fraction of the accreted material is ejected in the form of relativistic jets, and the jet behavior is closely linked to the characteristics of the accretion flow, as probed by the X-ray spectrum and variability. Since stellar-mass compact objects evolve through their duty cycles on timescales of days to weeks, they are ideal sources in which to study this coupling between the accretion and ejection processes as the systems evolve through their duty cycles. Our project aims to monitor outbursts of three systems with different classes of accretor; a black hole, a neutron star and a white dwarf primary, to study the similarities and differences between the jets and jet-disc coupling in these systems. This will allow us to probe the roles of the stellar surface, stellar magnetic field and the depth of the gravitational potential well in the jet launching process. I will first present some background material introducing the field, and then give an overview of the current status of the project, including the latest results.