Distinct Jet Properties in the X-Ray-Obscured State of GRS 1915+105

[2607.27688] Distinct Jet Properties in the X-Ray-Obscured State of GRS 1915+105 Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Astrophysics > High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena arXiv:2607.27688 (astro-ph) [Submitted on 30 Jul 2026 ( v1 ), last revised 28 Aug 2026 (this version, v2)] Title: Distinct Jet Properties in the X-Ray-Obscured State of GRS 1915+105 Authors: Xi Yan , Lang Cui , Sergei Trushkin , Shuangjing Xu , Wu Jiang , Zhen Yan , Sándor Frey , Timur Mufakharov , Ruchika Dhaka View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: GRS 1915+105 has remained in an X-ray-obscured state since its transition from a long-lasting unobscured state in 2019. We report on 6.7-GHz East Asia VLBI Network observations of GRS 1915+105 obtained during strong radio flares detected at 2.3--11.2 GHz with the RATAN-600 radio telescope in 2025. Our images reveal two contrasting jet morphologies. The first epoch, associated with a flare evolving from an optically thick to an optically thin spectrum, shows a bright radio core accompanied by an extended jet structure. By contrast, the second epoch, observed near the peak of another flare displaying optically thin emission at lower frequencies, is dominated by two bright, symmetric, well-separated jet blobs and shows no detectable radio core. If these jets exhibited the apparent superluminal motions commonly observed prior to 2019, measurable angular shifts would be expected over the five-hour observations. However, no significant jet motion is detected. Combined with our derived jet speed of $\beta\Gamma \lesssim 0.40$, these results suggest that the jets launched during the current obscured state are slower than the relativistic jets ($\beta\Gamma \gtrsim 1$) observed earlier during the unobscured state. Together with the recently reported large variations in jet orientation, our findings in GRS 1915+105 provide robust support for the emerging paradigm that X-ray binary jets launched in obscured and unobscured states likely exhibit distinct propagation properties. Comments: ApJ in press Subjects: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) Cite as: arXiv:2607.27688 [astro-ph.HE] (or arXiv:2607.27688v2 [astro-ph.HE] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2607.27688 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Xi Yan [ view email ] [v1] Thu, 30 Jul 2026 05:10:12 UTC (2,792 KB) [v2] Fri, 28 Aug 2026 06:01:26 UTC (2,793 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Additional Features Audio Summary Current browse context: astro-ph.HE < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-07 Change to browse by: astro-ph References & Citations INSPIRE HEP SciX Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) IArxiv recommender toggle IArxiv Recommender ( What is IArxiv? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab)

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