Date/Time
Date(s) - 01/04/2015
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Title: Hitting the JACPOT: Probing Accretion Disk – Radio Jet Coupling of X-ray Binaries

Speaker: Dr. Greg Sivakoff

Institute: University of Alberta

Location: ABB 102

Description:

Accretion disks and jets are ubiquitous astrophysical phenomena. Given the potential feedback between supermassive black holes and galaxy evolution, understanding the physics of accretion discs and relativistic radio jets around Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) has gained increased motivation; however, the outbursts of AGN likely last millions of years. Since the outbursts of X-ray binaries, stellar mass cousins of AGN, typically lasts weeks to months, they are ideal targets for probing the physics of accretion disks and jets. To this end, the Jet Acceleration and Collimation Probe Of Transient X-Ray Binaries (JACPOT XRB) team coordinates monitoring observations of X-ray binaries across the electromagnetic spectrum. To date, these monitoring series have included radio (especially the VLA and VLBA), sub-mm, optical, near-IR, and X-ray observations, of entire outbursts of several X-ray binaries with known or candidate black holes, a neutron star, and a white dwarf, SS Cyg. I discuss how our recent results on these X-ray binaries shed new light on the coupling of accretion disks and relativistic jets, have led to important and unexpected spin-off results, and point the way to future studies.