The Jets and and Supercritical Accretion Disk in SS433

TL;DR

SS433 exhibits unique supercritical accretion and relativistic jets, with complex interactions between the disk, wind, and jets, making it a key system for studying microquasar phenomena and accretion physics.

Contribution

This review synthesizes observational data of SS433, highlighting the role of supercritical accretion and jet-wind interactions, and discusses the system's unique features as a natural laboratory.

Findings

Jets are shaped by interaction with disk wind

Precession affects observational properties

Jet bases are surrounded by hot gas cocoons

Abstract

(abridged) The review describes observations of SS433. The main difference between SS433 and other X-ray binaries is the supercritical regime for the gas accretion onto the relativistic star (most likely a black hole), which has lead to the formation of collimated relativistic jets. The properties of the jets are determined by their interaction with the disk wind. The precession of the disk and jets, as well as the eclipsing in the binary system, make SS433 a unique laboratory for studies of mechanisms for the microquasar phenomenon. Essentially all photometric and spectroscopic properties of SS433 are determined by the accretion disk and its orientation, but the disk itself is not observed, being located beneath the photosphere of the dense wind. Observational manifestations of the wind and of gas flows in the system are described. Little is known about the structure of the central regions where the hot bases of the jets are located. The available X-ray, UV, and optical observations point towards the picture where the bases of the jets are surrounded by cocoons of hot gas reradiating emission from the inner regions of the jet channel. Direct investigations of this channel in the supercritical accretion disk of SS433 are not possible; however, a similar object oriented face-on would likely be an extremely bright X-ray source, such as ultra-luminous X-ray sources observed in other galaxies.