1210.4308 (Julien Malzac)

Internal shocks at the origin of the flat spectral energy distribution of compact jets    [PDF]

Julien Malzac

An internal shock model is proposed to interpret the radio to infrared (IR) emission of the compact jets observed in the hard spectral state of X-ray binaries. Assuming that the specific bulk Lorentz factor of the jet at its base varies with a flicker noise power spectrum (i.e. P(f)~1/f), I estimate the energy dissipation profile along the jet and the resulting partially self-absorbed synchrotron emission. For this type of velocity fluctuations, and a conical jet geometry, the shock dissipation at large distance from the black hole balances exactly the adiabatic losses. This leads to a flat radio to IR spectral energy distribution similar to that observed in compact jets.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.4308