Clues on jet behavior from simultaneous radio-X-ray fits of GX 339-4

Abstract

Understanding the mechanisms of accretion-ejection during X-ray binary (XrB) outbursts has been a problem for several decades. For instance, it is still not clear what controls the spectral evolution of these objects from the hard to the soft states and then back to the hard states at the end of the outburst, tracing the well-known hysteresis cycle in the hardness-intensity diagram. Moreover, the link between the spectral states and the presence or absence of radio emission is still highly debated. In a series of papers we developed a model composed of a truncated outer standard accretion disk (SAD, from the solution of Shakura and Sunyaev) and an inner jet emitting disk (JED). In this paradigm, the JED plays the role of the hot corona while simultaneously explaining the presence of a radio jet. Our goal is to apply for the first time direct fitting procedures of the JED-SAD model to the hard states of four outbursts of GX 339-4 observed during the 2000–2010 decade by RXTE, combined with simultaneous or quasi simultaneous ATCA observations. We built JED-SAD model tables usable in XSPEC, as well as a reflection model table based on the XILLVER model of XSPEC. We applied our model to the 452 hard state observations obtained with RXTE/PCA. We were able to correctly fit the X-ray spectra and simultaneously reproduce the radio flux with an accuracy better than 15%. We show that the functional dependency of the radio emission on the model parameters (mainly the accretion rate and the transition radius between the JED and the SAD) is similar for all the rising phases of the different outbursts of GX 339-4, but it is significantly different from the functional dependency obtained in the decaying phases. This result strongly suggests a change in the radiative and/or dynamical properties of the ejection between the beginning and the end of the outburst. We discuss possible scenarios that could explain these differences.