Published June 10, 2014 | Version v1
Journal article

Quasi-periodic variations in x-ray emission and long-term radio observations: Evidence for a two-component jet in Sw J1644+57

  • 1. School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)
  • 2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Box 454002, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4002 (United States)

Description

The continued observations of Sw J1644+57 in X-ray and radio bands accumulated a rich data set to study the relativistic jet launched in this tidal disruption event. The X-ray light curve of Sw J1644+57 from 5-30 days presents two kinds of quasi-periodic variations: a 200 s quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) and a 2.7 day quasi-periodic variation. The latter has been interpreted by a precessing jet launched near the Bardeen-Petterson radius of a warped disk. Here we suggest that the ∼200 s QPO could be associated with a second, narrower jet sweeping the observer line-of-sight periodically, which is launched from a spinning black hole in the misaligned direction with respect to the black hole's angular momentum. In addition, we show that this two-component jet model can interpret the radio light curve of the event, especially the re-brightening feature starting ∼100 days after the trigger. From the data we infer that inner jet may have a Lorentz factor of Γj ∼ 5.5 and a kinetic energy of E k, iso ∼ 3.0 × 1052 erg, while the outer jet may have a Lorentz factor of Γj ∼ 2.5 and a kinetic energy of Ek, iso ∼ 3.0 × 1053 erg.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/788/1/32

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal
Journal Volume
788
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
[11 p.]
ISSN
0004-637X
CODEN
ASJOAB