The Origin of the X-ray Emission in SS 433
in a Hydrodynamical Model

O. V. Aleksandrova, K. V. Bychkov, and E. V. Seifina

Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Universitetskii pr. 13, Moscow, 119899 Russia

Received April 16, 1996

Abstract—The possible contribution to the X-ray emission of SS 433 from regions where rapid dense clouds in the relativistic jets interact with rarified gas from the accretion disk is examined. The clouds, which move with velocities of about 80 000 km/s, generate shock waves in the accretion disk. Behind the shock front, the electrons are heated to temperatures of about 4 10⁹ K, and emit photons with energies of more than 300 keV. The high-pressure gas behind the shock front compresses the clouds and generates shock waves in them, whose velocities are of the order of several thousand km/s. The gas in the dense clouds passing through the front is rapidly radiatively cooled. Detailed calculations of the radiation spectrum are carried out for front velocities from 2000 to 6000 km/s. Comparison of the calculation results with observations by the GINGA and ASCA satellites suggests that the kinetic energy carried from the system in the form of these clouds is W < 2 10³⁹ erg/s. This is close to previous estimates of the bolometric luminosity of the disk, which is consistent with the idea that the accretion in the SS 433 system is supercritical.

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