Outer jet X-ray and radio emission in R Aquarii: 1999.8 to 2004.0

TL;DR

This study analyzes multi-year X-ray and radio observations of R Aquarii, revealing the evolution and motion of its outer jet structures, including shock heating, expansion, and cooling processes over a four-year period.

Contribution

It provides detailed observational evidence of the dynamic evolution of R Aquarii's outer jets, including their motion, cooling, and disappearance, based on combined Chandra and VLA data.

Findings

Outer X-ray jets moved outward at ~580 km/s

SW X-ray jet almost disappeared due to cooling

NE radio bright spot also moved outward

Abstract

Chandra and VLA observations of the symbiotic star R Aqr in 2004 reveal significant changes over the three to four year interval between these observations and previous observations taken with the VLA in 1999 and with Chandra in 2000. This paper reports on the evolution of the outer thermal X-ray lobe-jets and radio jets. The emission from the outer X-ray lobe-jets lies farther away from the central binary than the outer radio jets, and comes from material interpreted as being shock heated to ~10^6 K, a likely result of collision between high speed material ejected from the central binary and regions of enhanced gas density. Between 2000 and 2004, the Northeast (NE) outer X-ray lobe-jet moved out away from the central binary, with an apparent projected motion of ~580 km s^-1. The Southwest (SW) outer X-ray lobe-jet almost disappeared between 2000 and 2004, presumably due to adiabatic expansion and cooling. The NE radio bright spot also moved away from the central binary between 2000 and 2004, but with a smaller apparent velocity than of the NE X-ray bright spot. The SW outer lobe-jet was not detected in the radio in either 1999 or 2004. The density and mass of the X-ray emitting material is estimated. Cooling times, shock speeds, pressure and confinement are discussed.