Abstract for Proposal 096396
The first sample of jet properties from accreting black holes and neutron stars
Astrophysical jets are powerful streams of gas and energy that form when
matter falls onto compact object, which have a huge impact on their nearby
environment. However, there are still key open questions regarding jets
are launched or powered. Fast optical/infrared and X-ray variability
studies of black hole and neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs)
recently opened a new way to constrain the base of the jet, discovering a
new rich and exciting phenomenology. Here we propose to perform the first
fast X-ray + IR weekly monitoring program of active LMXBs. In detail,
we aim to perform 9 strictly simultaneous observations with XMM (9 x 15
ks) and HAWK-I (9 x 1hr) during the summer visibility window. This will
allow us to collect the first comparable sample of jet measurements from
both systems.
Details on Observing Strategy and Trigger Criteria
We aim to perform a weekly monitoring of the fast-X-ray/IR fast-X-ray/IR
variability in LMXBs. Given that almost all LMXB are in the galactic
center, we ask to pre-schedule the observations during specific
windows, when we know that most of sources will be visible by both
observatories. Each week we will decide the best source to observe
through a decision tree algorithm: in detail we want the source to be
in a jet-dominated state: The X-rays will have to be in a jet-dominated
state, and have an X-ray flux > 1e+10 erg/s. IR magnitude will have
to be <15. We will get in touch with the XMM SOC 3 days before each
observation, in order to trigger with enough response time. Similarly,
we will communicate the source to the VLT, preparing the final Phase 2
material on time.