Six-day modulation of the quiescent radio emission of SS 433

Abstract

Two daily sets of monitoring data of the Galactic X-ray binary SS 433 (V1343 Aql) obtained on the RATAN-600 radio telescope (117 days in 1997 and 120 days in 1999) show variations in its quiescent radio emission with a period of 6.05±0.1 days at six frequencies from 0.96 to 22 GHz. This 10–15% modulation in the quiescent radio light curves differs significantly from the well-known 6.28-day periodicity in the emission of moving spectral features and in optical photometric data, which are related to nodding motions of the jets and accretion-disk wobble. This period coincides almost exactly with the theoretical value for the harmonic f=2(I o+I p), related to the orbital (T o=13.08 days) and precessional (T p=162.4 days) periods for slaved accretion-disk models. The 6.06-day period corresponds to the combined frequency. It is proved that the modulation of the radio flux of SS 433 may be associated with relativistic boosting of the jet emission due to periodic variation of the orientation of the jets, which are nodding with a period of six days. The synchrotron emission of the two jets contributes to the quiescent radio flux of SS 433, and the six-day harmonic has the same radio spectrum as the quiescent radio flux: S v ∼v −0.6.