Infrared synchrotron oscillations in GRS 1915+105

Abstract

We report simultaneous observations of the black hole candidate X-ray transient GRS 1915+105 in the infrared (IR) at K and in the radio at 2 cm. Oscillations of period 26 min were observed in both wavebands, having (dereddened) peak–peak amplitudes of about 40 mJy and with the IR leading the radio by 7 min, or perhaps by 33 or 59 min. A synchrotron origin for the oscillations continues to seem very likely. We consider a range of problems raised by these observations, and briefly discuss the applicability of expanding-synchrotron source or conical jet models to the oscillations. Comparing simplistic estimates of the ejecta mass to the missing inner disc mass in the model of Belloni et al., we find that a significant fraction of the inner disc may be ejected during the oscillations.