X-ray Emission from Transient Jet Model in Black Hole Binaries

Abstract

While the non-thermal radio through at least near-infrared emission in the hard state in X-ray binaries (XRBs) is known to originate in jets, the source of the non-thermal X-ray component is still uncertain. We introduce a new model for this emission, which takes into account the transient nature of outflows, and show that it can explain the observed properties of the X-ray spectrum. Rapid radiative cooling of the electrons naturally accounts for the break often seen below around 10 keV, and for the canonical spectral slope F_\nu ~ \nu^{-1/2} observed below the break. We derive the constraints set by the data for both synchrotron- and Compton-dominated models. We show that for the synchrotron-dominated case, the jet should be launched at radii comparable to the inner radius of the disk (~few 100 r_s for the 2000 outburst of XTE J1118+480), with typical magnetic field B >~ 10^{6} G. We discuss the consequences of our results on the possible connection between the inflow and outflow in the hard state of XRBs.