Jets from a stellar-mass black hole are as relativistic as those from supermassive black holes.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 42140906.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-026-72897-5.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Relativistic jets from supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei are amongst the most powerful phenomena in the universe. Similar jets from stellar-mass black holes offer a chance to study the phenomena on accessible observation time scales. However, such comparative studies across black hole masses and time scales remain hampered by the long-standing perception that stellar-mass black hole jets are in a less relativistic regime. Here, we show the detection of two distinct, relativistic jet ejections from the Galactic black hole X-ray binary 4U 1543-47 during a single outburst, with radio interferometry monitoring observations. Our measurements reveal a likely Lorentz factor of approximately 8 and a minimum of 4.6 at launch with 95% confidence, demonstrating that stellar-mass black holes in X-ray binaries can launch jets as relativistic as those seen in active galactic nuclei.