8th HEAD Meeting, 8-11 September, 2004
Session 17 Neutron Stars and X-ray Binaries
Poster, Thursday, September 9, 2004, 9:00am-10:00pm

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[17.06] A Boiling Core and a Shocking Jet: Radio Observations of H1743-322

M.P. Rupen, A.J. Mioduszewski, V. Dhawan (NRAO)

We present radio imaging results on the X-ray transient H1743-322 from the Very Large Array (VLA) and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). The 2003 X-ray outburst also produced parallel radio emission, with an initially slow, optically-thick rise followed by a series of optically-thin flares. High-resolution images show this emission breaking up into a confusing set of unresolved components, with no obvious secular motions. These central radio sources faded below detectability around August. At about the same time a source suddenly appeared about an arcsecond to the east, and continued to dominate the radio light curve through April 2004. This steep-spectrum component moves east at a speed of about 0.8c at the distance of the Galactic Center, with no evidence of deceleration. Extrapolation back to the position of the core suggests an expulsion date around the beginning of the X-ray/radio outburst. There is some indication that this eastern component is resolved in the later observations. One simple interpretation of the August brightening is that some ejecta have finally hit a dense surrounding medium. While this behavior is reminiscent of such sources as XTE J1550-564 and XTE J1748-288, the radio ejecta in H1743-322 are unique in maintaining a constant speed well after their initial appearance.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.


The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: mrupen@nrao.edu

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.