X-ray binary systems in our galaxy exhibiting relativistic jets (microquasars) present one of the most recent additions to the field of high energy astrophysics. Jet models of high energy emission from these sources have created significant interest lately with detailed spectral and timing studies of the X-ray emission from microquasars, and their recent establishment as a new distinctive class of γ-ray emitting sources after the detection of very-high-energy (VHE) γ-rays from the microquasars LS 5039 and LS I +61° 303.
This dissertation presents a study of radiation signatures from a leptonic jet model, based on time-dependent electron injection and acceleration, followed by their subsequent adiabatic and radiative cooling. The radiation mechanisms included are synchrotron, synchrotron self Compton and external Compton with soft photons provided by the companion star and the accretion disk. Compton scattering is treated both in the Thomson and the Klein-Nishina regimes, thus making the model applicable to microquasars that are candidates for VHE γ-ray emission as well. An analytical solution to the electron kinetic equation is introduced for the Thomson regime treatment, while a numerical approach is adopted for the Klein-Nishina regime. Predictions regarding rapid flux and spectral variability signatures in the form of spectral hysteresis in the X-ray hardness intensity diagrams are made, which should be testable with monitoring observations using Chandra and/or XMM-Newton. Detections of such variability would help in distinguishing between various competing models for the high energy emission from these sources. Our results show that the shape and orientation of the hysteresis loops would allow identification of the dominant emission components as well as quantify physical parameters like the magnetic field, spectral index, Doppler boosting factor, etc.
The model is applied to available broadband observations of the two microquasars that have been very recently detected in VHE γ-rays, namely LS I +61° 303 and LS 5039. In the case of LS I +61° 303, we explain the observed orbital modulation of the VHE γ-ray emission solely by the geometrical effect of changes in the relative orientation of the stellar companion with respect to the compact object affecting the position and depth of the γ-γ absorption trough. For LS 5039, our results imply that an orbital modulation of the velocity of the stellar wind in addition to γ-γ absorption effects may be necessary to explain the orbital variability of the VHE γ-ray emission.