Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Yoon, Doosoo

Titel

Headwinds and bow shocks: The interaction of relativistic outflows from compact objects with interstellar matter

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• An X-ray binary is a stellar binary system in which one of the components is a compact object (a black hole or a neutron star). The companion star transfers its gas to the compact object, and in some X-ray binaries the portion of the energy accreted to a disc produces a relativistic jet. The jet interacts with ambient medium, generating observational signatures, which are crucial in understanding jet dynamics and inferring the physical properties for the jet and the compact object. However, developing a theoretical framework for the interactions has been challenging. X-ray binaries are classified into two sub-categories based on the mass of their companion stars: high-mass X-ray binaries and low-mass X-ray binaries. In this thesis, I have performed a theoretical study of the jet-interstellar matter interaction for both systems. In Chapter 2, attention is given to the evolution of jet trails and bow shocks in fast-moving low-mass X-ray binaries. I have numerically proven that the interaction between the radio plasma released by microquasar jets from such high-velocity binaries in the interstellar medium always produces a structure that consists of a bow shock, a trailing neck, and an expanding bubble, which is detectable in H alpha and X-ray emissions. In Chapter 3, I extended this model to a bow-shock pulsar wind nebula, particularly the Guitar Nebula, which has apparent multiple bubbles behind the pulsar. In this study, I focused on the effect of inhomogeneous ambient medium on the evolution of bow shocks and bubbles. I showed that when the pulsar encounters a density discontinuity, the bubbles can be produced due to the abrupt change of the standoff radius, at which a pressure balance occurs between the pulsar wind pressure and the ram pressure from the ambient medium. In Chapter 4, I studied the interaction between microquasar jets and stellar wind from the companion star in high-mass X-ray binaries. I derived a robust analytic solution of the jet-bending angle as a function of jet power and wind thrust, and applied it to Cygnus X-1 and Cygnus X-3 to constrain their minimum jet kinetic power.