关于微类星体的部分最新研究结果

对microquaLsar(微类星体)最新的一些研究结果作了比较全面的评述。具有相对论性喷流的microquaLsar在很多现象上类似于极小尺度上的类星体。对X波段的观测可以探测到吸积盘内区甚至接近黑洞的区域。结合低波段上的观测和研究，人们在吸积盘的动力学模型、物质吸积与喷流形成之间的关系以及喷流的超光速运动等方面的认识都有了长足的进步，并且发现了黑洞存在的新证据。对它们的研究为更好地理解河外天体的相对论性喷流和黑洞吸积方面的问题开辟了一条新的途径。     

Bubbles in planetary nebulae and clusters of galaxies: jet bending

We study the bending of jets in binary stellar systems. A compact companion accretes mass from the slow wind of the mass-losing primary star, forms an accretion disc and blows two opposite jets. These fast jets are bent by the slow wind. Disregarding the orbital motion, we find the dependence of the bending angle on the properties of the slow wind and the jets. Bending of jets is observed in planetary nebulae which are thought to be the descendants of interacting binary stars. For example, in some of these planetary nebulae, the two bubbles (lobes) which are inflated by the two opposite jets are displaced to the same side of the symmetry axis of the nebula. Similar displacements are observed in bubble pairs in the centre of some clusters and groups of galaxies. We compare the bending of jets in binary stellar systems with that in clusters of galaxies.     

On the evolution of the cosmic supernova rates

The Galactic radio-emitting X-ray binary Cygnus X-3 is known to be a source of large-scale radio jets associated with periods of intense radio flaring. These jets have been found to have an expansion velocity of ∼0.3 c and are believed (on kinematic grounds) to lie close to the plane of the sky. We present new observations of Cygnus X-3 using the VLBA at 15 GHz. These observations, which included the detection of two small flares, show an additional kind of behaviour with apparent superluminal expansion along both major and minor axes. Evidence for superluminal activity has been found in a number of X-ray binary systems such as GRS 1915+105 and GRO J1655−40 with their superluminal radio jets. Apparently similar morphologies of the Galactic and extragalactic jet sources have led to the X-ray binaries being described as 'micro-quasars'. The superluminal expansion seen in our results appears to be different in nature from these other two sources, and a number of mechanisms are presented and discussed.     

Broadband spectrum of the X-ray nova SWIFT J174510.8-262411 at the decaying phase of its outburst

Results of quasi-simultaneous SWIFT and RTT-150 observations for the X-ray nova SWIFT J174510.8-262411 in May–June 2013 at the decaying phase of its outburst are presented. It is shown that the nova spectrum can be fitted in a very wide energy range (from the infrared z and i bands to hard X-rays) by a single power law attenuated due to absorption but without any traces of the presence of a soft (blackbody) component. The presence of such a component is suggested by the generally accepted models of disk accretion onto a black hole in a binary system. The observation of a single power-law spectrum may imply that synchrotron radiation from the source’s relativistic jets makes a major contribution to its flux or that the accretion disk is everywhere hot, optically thin, and radiates nonthermally.     

A magnetohydrodynamical model for the formation of episodic jets

Episodic ejection of plasma blobs has been observed in many black hole systems. While steady, continuous jets are believed to be associated with large-scale open magnetic fields, what causes the episodic ejection of blobs remains unclear. Here by analogy with the coronal mass ejection on the Sun, we propose a magnetohydrodynamical model for episodic ejections from black holes associated with the closed magnetic fields in an accretion flow. Shear and turbulence of the accretion flow deform the field and result in the formation of a flux rope in the disc corona. Energy and helicity are accumulated and stored until a threshold is reached. The system then loses its equilibrium and the flux rope is thrust outward by the magnetic compression force in a catastrophic way. Our calculations show that for parameters appropriate for the black hole in our Galactic centre, the plasmoid can attain relativistic speeds in about 35 min.     

Investigation of the radio emission from active galactic nuclei: Determining the spin of a supermassive black hole

The results of radio observations for ten kinetically dominated quasars are presented. The observations have been performed at 3.5 cm with the RTF-32 radio telescopes at the Zelenchukskaya and Badary observatories of the Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The kinetic power of the relativistic jets and the spins of the supermassive black holes in these objects have been determined from radio luminosity measurements. The rotation of the black hole in these objects is shown to be retrograde with respect to the Keplerian rotation in the accretion disk in the case of an approximate equality between the magnetic and gas pressures near the black hole event horizon.     

Relativistic Jets from Accretion Disks

The jets observed to emanate from many compact accreting objects may arise from the twisting of a magnetic field threading a differentially rotating accretion disk which acts to magnetically extract angular momentum and energy from the disk. Two main regimes have been discussed, hydromagnetic jets, which have a significant mass flux and have energy and angular momentum carried by both matter and electromagnetic field and, Poynting jets, where the mass flux is small and energy and angular momentum are carried predominantly by the electromagnetic field. Here, we describe recent theoretical work on the formation of relativistic Poynting jets from magnetized accretion disks. Further, we describe new relativistic, fully electromagnetic, particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of the formation of jets from accretion disks. Analog Z-pinch experiments may help to understand the origin of astrophysical jets.     

Relativistic large-scale jets and minimum power requirements

The recent discovery, by the Chandra satellite, that jets of blazars are strong X-ray emitters at large scales     , lends support to the hypothesis that emitting plasma is still moving at highly relativistic speeds on these scales. In this case in fact the emission via inverse Compton scattering off cosmic background photons is enhanced and the resulting predicted X-ray spectrum accounts well for the otherwise puzzling observations. Here we point out another reason to favour relativistic large-scale jets, based on a minimum power argument: by estimating the Poynting flux and bulk kinetic powers corresponding to, at least, the relativistic particles and magnetic field responsible for the emission, one can derive the value of the bulk Lorentz factor for which the total power is minimized. It is found that both the inner and extended parts of the jet of PKS     satisfy such a condition.     

Gamma-ray binaries

Recent observations have shown that some compact stellar binaries radiate the highest energy light in the universe. The challenge has been to determine the nature of the compact object and whether the very high energy gamma-rays are ultimately powered by pulsar winds or relativistic jets. Multiwavelength observations have shown that one of the three gamma-ray binaries known so far, PSR B1259−63, is a neutron star binary and that the very energetic gamma-rays from this source and from another gamma-ray binary, LS I +61 303, may be produced by the interaction of pulsar winds with the wind from the companion star. At this time it is an open question whether the third gamma-ray binary, LS 5039, is also powered by a pulsar wind or a microquasar jet, where relativistic particles in collimated jets would boost the energy of the wind from the stellar companion to TeV energies. I.F. Mirabel is on leave from CEA, France.     

The Dynamics of Gas around Active Galactic Nuclei

This paper examines the relationship between the accretion flows into the accretion disk around the black holes of active galactic nuclei (AGN), and the jets which they produce. A large-scale accretion flow around the nucleus is proposed as the thick dusty toroid structure of the unified model. Physically, this is similar to the Kahn ‘cocoon star’ model. High (super-Eddington) accretion rates into the accretion disk are needed. It is assumed that all black holes produce relativistic jets. However, entrainment of thermal (wind) material into the jet determines the AGN class, radio-loud or radio quiet. The jet interacts with the ambient medium as it expands, generating a cocoon of fast radiative or partially-radiative shocks around it. Such a model can explain both the radio properties and the emission line properties over a wide variety of AGN classes. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The departure of η Carinae from axisymmetry and the binary hypothesis

I argue that the large-scale departure from axisymmetry of the η Carinae nebula can be explained by the binary star model of η Carinae. The companion diverts the wind blown by the primary star, by accreting from the wind and possibly by blowing its own collimated fast wind (CFW). The effect of these processes depends on the orbital separation, and hence on the orbital phase of the eccentric orbit. The variation of the mass outflow from the binary system with the orbital phase leads to a large-scale departure from axisymmetry along the equatorial plane, as is observed in η Carinae. I further speculate that such a companion may have accreted a large fraction of the mass that was expelled in the Great Eruption of 1850 and the Lesser Eruption of 1890. The accretion process was likely to form an accretion disc, with the formation of a CFW, or jets, on the two sides of the accretion disc. The CFW may have played a crucial role in the formation of the two lobes.     

MHD simulations of accretion disks and jets: strengths and limitations

Observations are providing increasingly detailed quantitative information about the accretion flows that power such high energy systems as X-ray binaries and Active Galactic Nuclei. These observations have been modeled in some detail by a variety of accretion scenarios, but such models rely on unavoidable assumptions such as regular flow geometry and a simple, parameterized stress. Global numerical simulations offer a way to investigate the basic physical dynamics of accretion flows without these assumptions. We are now carrying out fully three-dimensional general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of time-dependent inflows into Kerr black holes. The results from recent global simulations of black hole accretion disks will be reviewed, and some implications of those results for observations will be discussed.     

SS 433 — Again

The standard model for SS 433 encounters increasing difficulties, including geometrical and chemical irregularities, short-time correlations and the presence of circular polarization. It is argued that these difficulties disappear when one drops the assumption that the moving spectral lines are emitted by the (mapped) jets. All the spectral peculiarities can be blamed on (special) radiation from the inner accretion disk, at radius 10⁷ cm, around a young neutron star. The jets consist of relativistic pair plasma-like in all the other jet sources. A prediction is made for the center of the radio jets.     

The large-scale structure of FR-II radio sources

The large-scale flow produced by classical and relativistic jets in a uniform external medium is explored using a combination of general arguments and numerical simulations. We find that in both cases, jets with finite initial opening angles are recollimated by the high pressure in the cocoon and that the outer flow becomes approximately self-similar at large times. However, if the opening angle is significantly less than 20°, then there is an intermediate stage during which the working surface propagates at a constant speed, which is of the same order as that in the jet. The behaviour of the relativistic and classical jets is very similar, except that the relativistic jets generate lighter cocoons. Application of the model to Cygnus A gives estimates of the source age and advance speed which agree very well with spectral ageing observations. Quantitative estimates and general arguments suggest that the regularly spaced knots in the Cygnus A jet can be interpreted as shocks associated with reconfinement of an initially free jet, knot 3 of the Cygnus A jet being identified with the reflection point of the reconfinement shock. However, the model predicts too large an initial opening angle for the Cygnus A jets. It is possible that this discrepancy is due to our imposition of axisymmetry which allows the numerical jets to become much better collimated after the reconfinement than they would be in the three-dimensional case. Further study is needed to test this idea.     

General relativistic MHD simulations of black hole accretion disks and jets

Accretion disks orbiting black holes power high-energy systems such as X-ray binaries and Active Galactic Nuclei. Observations are providing increasingly detailed quantitative information about such systems. This data has been interpreted using standard toy-models that rely on simplifying assumptions such as regular flow geometry and a parameterized stress. Global numerical simulations offer a way to investigate the basic physical dynamics of accretion flows without these assumptions and, in principle, lead to a genuinely predictive theory. In recent years we have developed a fully three-dimensional general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulation code that evolves time-dependent inflows into Kerr black holes. Although the resulting global simulations of black hole accretion are still somewhat simplified, they have brought to light a number of interesting results. These include the formation of electro-magnetically dominated jets powered by the black hole’s rotation, and the presence of strong stresses in the plunging region of the accretion flow. The observational consequences of these features are gradually being examined. Increasing computer power and increasingly sophisticated algorithms promise a bright future for the computational approach to black hole accretion.     

Radio-loudness of active galaxies and the black hole evolution

Active galactic nuclei (AGNs) form two distinct sequences on the radio-loudness–Eddington ratio plane. The ‘upper’ sequence contains radio selected AGNs, the ‘lower’ sequence is composed mainly of optically selected AGNs. The sequences mark the upper bounds for the radio-loudness of two distinct populations of AGNs, hosted, respectively, by elliptical and disk galaxies. Both sequences show the same dependence of the radio-loudness on the Eddington ratio (an increase with decreasing Eddington ratio), which suggests that another parameter in addition to the accretion rate must play a role in determining the efficiency of jet production in AGNs. We speculate that this additional parameter is the spin of the black hole, assuming that black holes in giant elliptical galaxies have (on average) much larger spins than black holes in disc galaxies. Possible evolutionary scenarios leading to such a spin dichotomy are discussed. The galaxy-morphology related radio dichotomy breaks down at high accretion rates where the dominant fraction of luminous quasars being hosted by giant ellipticals is radio-quiet. This indicates that the production of powerful jets at high accretion rates is in most cases suppressed and, in analogy to X-ray binary systems (XRB) during high and very high states, may be intermittent. Such intermittency can be caused by switches between two different accretion modes, assuming that only during one of them an outflow from the central engine is sufficiently collimated to form a relativistic jet.     

Launching mechanisms of astrophysical jets

The combination of accretion disks and supersonic jets is used to model many active astrophysical objects, viz., young stars, relativistic stars, and active galactic nuclei. However, existing theories on the physical processes by which these structures transfer angular momentum and energy from disks to jets through viscous or magnetic torques are still relatively approximate. Global stationary solutions do not permit understanding the formation and stability of these structures; and global numerical simulations that include both the disk and jet physics are often limited to relatively short time scales and astrophysically out-of-range values of viscosity and resistivity parameters that are instead crucial to defining the coupling of the inflow/outflow dynamics. Along these lines we discuss self-consistent time-dependent simulations of the launching of supersonic jets by magnetized accretion disks, using high resolution numerical techniques. We shall concentrate on the effects of the disk physical parameters, and discuss under which conditions steady state solutions of the type proposed in the self-similar models of Blandford and Payne can be reached and maintained in a self-consistent nonlinear stationary state.     

Observations of lensed relativistic jets as a tool for constraining lens galaxy parameters

The possibility of using lensed relativistic jets on very small angular scales to construct proper models of spiral lens galaxies and to independently determine the Hubble constant is considered. The system B0218+357 is used as an example to illustrate that there exists a great choice of model parameters adequately reproducing its observed large-scale properties but leading to a significant spread in the Hubble constant. The jet image position angle is suggested as an additional parameter that allows the range of models under consideration to be limited. It is shown that themodels for which the jet image position angles differ by at least 40° can be distinguished between themselves during observations on very small angular scales. The possibility of observing the geometric properties of lensed relativistic jets and measuring the superluminal velocities of knot images on time scales of several months with very long baseline space interferometers is discussed.     

Radiatively-driven general relativistic jets

We use moment formalism of relativistic radiation hydrodynamics to obtain equations of motion of radial jets and solve them using polytropic equation of state of the relativistic gas. We consider curved space-time around black holes and obtain jets with moderately relativistic terminal speeds. In addition, the radiation field from the accretion disc, is able to induce internal shocks in the jet close to the horizon. Under combined effect of thermal as well as radiative driving, terminal speeds up to 0.75 (units of light speed) are obtained.     

Tidal disruption of stars by super‐massive black holes—XMM‐Newton highlights and the next decade

This article provides a summary of XMM ‐Newton highlights on stellar tidal disruption events. First found with ROSAT , ongoing and upcoming sky surveys will detect these events in the thousands. In X‐rays, tidal disruption events (TDEs ) provide us with powerful new probes of accretion physics under extreme conditions and on short timescales and of relativistic effects near the super‐massive black holes (SMBHs) , of the formation and evolution of disk winds near or above the Eddington limit, and of the processes of high‐energy emission from newly launched radio jets. TDEs serve as signposts of the presence of dormant single black holes at the cores of galaxies, and of binary black holes as well, since TDE lightcurves are characteristically different in the latter case. XMM ‐Newton has started to contribute to all of these topics, and a rich discovery space is opening up in the next decade.