Abstract
We provide a schematic framework for understanding observations of jet suppression in soft state black hole X-ray binaries based on the Blandford-Payne process and the net magnetic flux threading the black hole. Due to the geometrical thinness of soft state disks, mass-loading of field lines is ineffective compared to both geometrically thick disks as well as thin disks with greater black hole threading flux, a simple physical picture that allows us to understand the weakness of jets in radiatively efficient thin disks accreting in the prograde direction around high-spinning black holes. Despite a simplicity that forbids insights into the complexity of turbulent-driven evolution or the physics of the observed short-term time variability, we show how the breadth of this framework is such that it can serve as a coarse-grained foundation for understanding black hole accretion and jet formation across the mass scale.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.




References
Blandford, R.D.: In: Courvosier, T.J.-L., Mayor, M. (eds.) Active Galactic Nuclei, p. 161. Springer, Berlin (1990)
Blandford, R.D., Payne, D.G.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 199, 883 (1982)
Blandford, R.D., Znajek, R.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 179, 433 (1977)
Bogovalov, S., Tsinganos, K.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 357, 918 (2005)
Czerny, B., You, B.: eprint arXiv:1507.05852 (2015)
Fender, R.P., Belloni, T.M., Gallo, E.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 355, 1105 (2004)
Garofalo, D.: Astrophys. J. 699, 400 (2009a)
Garofalo, D.: Astrophys. J. 699, L52 (2009b)
Garofalo, D.: AdAst 213105 (2013)
Garofalo, D., Evans, D.A., Sambruna, R.M.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 406, 975 (2010)
Garofalo, D., Kim, M.I., Christian, D.J., Hollingworth, E., Lowery, A., Harmon, M.: Astrophys. J. 817, 170 (2016)
Gnedin, Yu.N., Mikhailov, A.G., Piotrovich, M.Yu.: Astron. Nachr. 336, 312 (2015)
Hardcastle, M.J., Evans, D.A., Croston, J.H.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 376, 1849 (2007)
Livio, M.: Astrophysical jets. In: Probing the Physics of Active Galactic Nuclei by Multiwavelength Monitoring. ASP Conference Series, vol. 224, p. 225 (2001)
Meier, D.L.: Astrophys. J. 548, L9 (2001)
Moderski, R., Sikora, M., Lasota, J.-P.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 301, 142 (1998)
Narayan, R., McClintock, J.E.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 419, L69 (2012)
Neilsen, J., Lee, J.C.: Nature 458, 481 (2009)
Piotrovich, M.Y., Buliga, S.D., Gnedin, Y.N., Natsvlishvili, T.M., Silant’ev, N.A.: Astrophys. Space Sci. 357, 99 (2015)
Ponti, G., et al.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 422, L11 (2012)
Pringle, J.E.: In: Burgarella, D., Livio, M., O’Dea, C.P. (eds.) Astrophysical Jets, p. 1. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1993)
Reynolds, C.S., Garofalo, D., Begelman, M.: Astrophys. J. 651, 1023 (2006)
Sikora, M., Stawarz, L., Lasota, J.-P.: Astrophys. J. 658, 815 (2007)
Tout, C.A., Pringle, J.E.: Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 281, 219 (1996)
Wilson, A.S., Colbert, E.J.M.: Astrophys. J. 438, 62 (1995)
Acknowledgements
We thank the referee for highlighting ideas in the literature that helped constrain our phenomenology. C.B.S. acknowledges support from the Brazilian agency FAPESP (2013/09065-8).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Garofalo, D., Singh, C.B. Scale-invariant jet suppression across the black hole mass scale. Astrophys Space Sci 361, 97 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-016-2689-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-016-2689-0