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Science 4 October 2002:
Vol. 298. no. 5591, pp. 196 - 199
DOI: 10.1126/science.1075857
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Reports

Large-Scale, Decelerating, Relativistic X-ray Jets from the Microquasar XTE J1550-564

S. Corbel,1* R. P. Fender,2 A. K. Tzioumis,3 J. A. Tomsick,4 J. A. Orosz,5 J. M. Miller,6 R. Wijnands,6 P. Kaaret7

We have detected, at x-ray and radio wavelengths, large-scale moving jets from the microquasar XTE J1550-564. Plasma ejected from near the black hole traveled at relativistic velocities for at least 4 years. We present direct evidence for gradual deceleration in a relativistic jet. The broadband spectrum of the jets is consistent with synchrotron emission from high-energy (up to 10 tera-electron volts) particles that were accelerated in the shock waves formed within the relativistic ejecta or by the interaction of the jets with the interstellar medium. XTE J1550-564 offers a rare opportunity to study the dynamical evolution of relativistic jets on time scales inaccessible for active galactic nuclei jets, with implications for our understanding of relativistic jets from Galactic x-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei.

1 Université Paris VII and Service d'Astrophysique, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique CE-Saclay, 91191 Gif sur Yvette, France.
2 Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam, and Center for High Energy Astrophysics, Kruislaan 403, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, Netherlands.
3 Australia Telescope National Facility, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Post Office Box 76, Epping NSW 1710, Australia.
4 Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California at San Diego, MS 0424, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
5 Astronomical Institute, Utrecht University, Postbus 80000, 3508 TA Utrecht, Netherlands.
6 Center for Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NE80-6055, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA.
7 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: corbel{at}discovery.saclay.cea.fr

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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Science 309, 746-749
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)