2-6 September 2024
CJD Bonn Castell
Europe/Berlin timezone
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Contribution

CJD Bonn Castell

X-ray binaries and stellar-mass black holes

Speakers

  • Prof. James MILLER-JONES

Primary authors

Content

X-ray binaries provide nearby laboratories to study the launching and evolution of relativistic jets on human timescales. High angular resolution VLBI observations are critical in determining the motions of these jets, allowing us to track them back to their launch point and determine an ejection time. This can be compared with the contemporaneous X-ray behaviour to determine the causal connection between the changing geometry of the accretion flow and the evolving properties of the jets. However, the rapid variability of the jets in both brightness and morphology can in some cases violate the fundamental assumptions of aperture synthesis, precluding high-precision measurements of the jet properties. Recent algorithmic advances are allowing us to overcome these challenges, providing a wealth of new information on the properties of the jets. In this talk I will give an overview of recent progress in this field, explaining what we can learn from VLBI studies at different stages of an X-ray binary outburst. I will also discuss the use of X-ray binary jets as astrometric probes, allowing us to measure the proper motions and parallaxes of these systems. Together with systemic radial velocities determined from the optical band, these measurements can be used to calculate the binary's motion through the Galaxy, and hence place constraints on the formation of their black holes.