TY - JOUR
T1 - Shell-shocked
T2 - The interstellar medium near Cygnus X-1
AU - Sell, P. H.
AU - Heinz, S.
AU - Richards, E.
AU - Maccarone, T. J.
AU - Russell, D. M.
AU - Gallo, E.
AU - Fender, R.
AU - Markoff, S.
AU - Nowak, M.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Brent Groves and Mike Dopita for helping us with setting up and running the MAPPINGS III shock code. SH and PHS acknowledge support through NASA/Chandra grant G07-8040X and NSF grant AST-0908690.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 The Authors.
PY - 2015/2/1
Y1 - 2015/2/1
N2 - We conduct a detailed case study of the interstellar shell near the high-mass X-ray binary, Cygnus X-1. We present new WIYN optical spectroscopic and Chandra X-ray observations of this region, which we compare with detailed MAPPINGS III shock models, to investigate the outflow powering the shell. Our analysis places improved, physically motivated constraints on the nature of the shock wave and the interstellar medium (ISM) it is plowing through. We find that the shock is travelling at less than a few hundred km s-1 through a low-density ISM (<5 cm-3). We calculate a robust, 3s upper limit to the total, time-averaged power needed to drive the shock wave and inflate the bubble, <2 × 1038 erg s-1. We then review possible origins of the shock wave. We find that a supernova origin to the shock wave is unlikely and that the black hole jet and/or O-star wind can both be central drivers of the shock wave. We conclude that the source of the Cygnus X-1 shock wave is far from solved.
AB - We conduct a detailed case study of the interstellar shell near the high-mass X-ray binary, Cygnus X-1. We present new WIYN optical spectroscopic and Chandra X-ray observations of this region, which we compare with detailed MAPPINGS III shock models, to investigate the outflow powering the shell. Our analysis places improved, physically motivated constraints on the nature of the shock wave and the interstellar medium (ISM) it is plowing through. We find that the shock is travelling at less than a few hundred km s-1 through a low-density ISM (<5 cm-3). We calculate a robust, 3s upper limit to the total, time-averaged power needed to drive the shock wave and inflate the bubble, <2 × 1038 erg s-1. We then review possible origins of the shock wave. We find that a supernova origin to the shock wave is unlikely and that the black hole jet and/or O-star wind can both be central drivers of the shock wave. We conclude that the source of the Cygnus X-1 shock wave is far from solved.
KW - ISM: jets and outflows
KW - Shock waves
KW - X-rays: binaries
KW - X-rays: individual: cygnus X-1
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84985031028&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stu2320
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stu2320
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84985031028
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 446
SP - 3579
EP - 3592
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 4
ER -