Abstract
Stellar-mass black holes with relativistic jets, also known as microquasars, mimic the behaviour of quasars and active galactic nuclei1. Because timescales around stellar-mass black holes are orders of magnitude smaller than those around more distant supermassive black holes, microquasars are ideal nearby ‘laboratories’ for studying the evolution of accretion disks and jet formation in black-hole systems2. Whereas studies of black holes have revealed a complex array of accretion activity, the mechanisms that trigger and suppress jet formation remain a mystery. Here we report the presence of a broad emission line in the faint, hard states and narrow absorption lines in the bright, soft states of the microquasar GRS 1915+105. (‘Hard’ and ‘soft’ denote the character of the emitted X-rays.) Because the hard states exhibit prominent radio jets3, we argue that the broad emission line arises when the jet illuminates the inner accretion disk. The jet is weak or absent during the soft states4, and we show that the absorption lines originate when the powerful radiation field around the black hole drives a hot wind off the accretion disk5,6,7. Our analysis shows that this wind carries enough mass away from the disk to halt the flow of matter into the radio jet.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mirabel, I. F. & Rodriguez, L. F. Sources of relativistic jets in the Galaxy. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 37, 409–443 (1999)
Fender, R. P. & Belloni, T. GRS 1915+105 and the disc-jet coupling in accreting black hole systems. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 42, 317–364 (2004)
Klein-Wolt, M. et al. Hard X-ray states and radio emission in GRS 1915+105. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 331, 745–764 (2002)
Fender, R. et al. Quenching of the radio jet during the X-ray high state of GX 339–4. Astrophys. J. 519, L165–L168 (1999)
Begelman, M. C., McKee, C. F. & Shields, G. A. Compton heated winds and coronae above accretion disks. I Dynamics. Astrophys. J. 271, 70–88 (1983)
Proga, D. & Kallman, T. R. On the role of the ultraviolet and X-ray radiation in driving a disk wind in X-ray binaries. Astrophys. J. 565, 455–470 (2002)
Proga, D. Winds from accretion disks driven by radiation and magnetocentrifugal force. Astrophys. J. 538, 684–690 (2000)
Greiner, J., Cuby, J. G. & McCaughrean, M. J. An unusually massive stellar black hole in the Galaxy. Nature 414, 522–524 (2001)
Mirabel, I. F. & Rodriguez, L. F. A superluminal source in the Galaxy. Nature 371, 46–48 (1994)
Belloni, T., Klein-Wolt, M., Mendez, M., van der Klis, M. & van Paradijs, J. A model-independent analysis of the variability of GRS 1915+105. Astron. Astrophys. 355, 271–290 (2000)
Hannikainen, D. et al. Characterizing a new class of variability in GRS 1915+105 with simultaneous INTEGRAL/RXTE observations. Astron. Astrophys. 435, 995–1004 (2005)
Mirabel, I. F. et al. Accretion instabilities and jet formation in GRS 1915+105. Astron. Astrophys. 330, L9–L12 (1998)
Eikenberry, S. S., Matthews, K., Morgan, E. H., Remillard, R. & Nelson, R. W. Evidence for a disk-jet interaction in the microquasar GRS 1915+105. Astrophys. J. 494, L61–L64 (1998)
Fender, R. P., Pooley, G. G., Brocksopp, C. & Newell, S. J. Rapid infrared flares in GRS 1915+105: Evidence for infrared synchrotron emission. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 290, L65–L69 (1997)
Pooley, G. G. & Fender, R. P. The variable radio emission from GRS 1915+105. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 292, 925–933 (1997)
Canizares, C. et al. The Chandra high-energy transmission grating: Design, fabrication, ground calibration, and 5 years in flight. Publ. Astron. Soc. Pacif. 117, 1144–1171 (2005)
Dhawan, V., Mirabel, I. F. & Rodriguez, L. F. AU-scale synchrotron jets and superluminal ejecta in GRS 1915+105. Astrophys. J. 543, 373–385 (2000)
Kallman, T. R. & Bautista, M. Photoionization and high-density gas. Astrophys. J. 133 (Suppl.). 221–253 (2001)
Lee, J. C. et al. High-resolution Chandra HETGS and Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer observations of GRS 1915+105: A hot disk atmosphere and cold gas enriched in iron and silicon. Astrophys. J. 567, 1102–1111 (2002)
Muno, M., Morgan, E. H. & Remillard, R. Quasi-periodic oscillations and spectral states in GRS 1915+105. Astrophys. J. 527, 321–340 (1999)
Kotani, T. et al. ASCA observations of the absorption line features from the superluminal jet source GRS 1915+105. Astrophys. J. 539, 413–423 (2000)
Esin, A. A., McClintock, J. E. & Narayan, R. Advection-dominated accretion and the spectral states of black hole X-ray binaries: Application to Nova Muscae 1991. Astrophys. J. 489, 865–889 (1997)
Markoff, S., Nowak, M. A. & Wilms, J. Going with the flow: Can the base of jets subsume the role of compact accretion disk coronae? Astrophys. J. 635, 1203–1216 (2005)
Eikenberry, S. et al. Spectroscopy of infrared flares from the microquasar GRS 1915+105. Astrophys. J. 506, L31–L34 (1998)
McClintock, J. et al. The spin of the near-extreme Kerr black hole GRS 1915+105. Astrophys. J. 652, 518–539 (2006)
Proga, D., Stone, J. M. & Kallman, T. R. Dynamics of line-driven winds in active galactic nuclei. Astrophys. J. 543, 686–696 (2000)
Janiuk, A., Czerny, B. & Siemiginowska, A. Radiation pressure instability as a variability mechanism in the microquasar GRS 1915+105. Astrophys. J. 542, L33–L36 (2000)
Houck, J. C. & Denicola, L. A. in Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems IX (eds Manset, N., Veillet, C. & Crabtree, D.) 591–594 (ASP Conference Series Vol. 216, 2000)
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge support from the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (J.N.) and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (J.C.L.). We thank G. Pooley for providing the radio data used in this paper and we acknowledge conversations with R. Remillard, who provided the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer spectra, and M. Begelman.
Author Contributions J.N. processed the data, performed spectral analysis, and wrote the paper. J.C.L. commented extensively on the manuscript. Both authors discussed the results at length.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Supplementary information
Supplementary Figure
This file contains Supplementary Figure 1 with Legend (PDF 121 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Neilsen, J., Lee, J. Accretion disk winds as the jet suppression mechanism in the microquasar GRS 1915+105. Nature 458, 481–484 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07680
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07680
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Vertical wind structure in an X-ray binary revealed by a precessing accretion disk
Nature Astronomy (2023)
-
Coupling between the accreting corona and the relativistic jet in the microquasar GRS 1915+105
Nature Astronomy (2022)
-
PHEMTO: the polarimetric high energy modular telescope observatory
Experimental Astronomy (2021)
-
Ionized outflows from active galactic nuclei as the essential elements of feedback
Nature Astronomy (2020)
-
Accretion in strong field gravity with eXTP
Science China Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy (2019)