2013ApJ...775...82L

We present cross-correlation analyses of simultaneous X-ray and near-infrared (near-IR) observations of the microquasar GRS 1915+105 during relativistic jet-producing epochs (X-ray class α and β). While previous studies have linked the large amplitude IR flares and X-ray behaviors to jet formation in these states, our new analyses are sensitive to much lower amplitude IR variability, providing more sensitive probes of the jet formation process. The X-ray to IR cross-correlation function (CCF) shows significant correlations that vary in form between the different X-ray states. During low/hard dips in both classes, we find no significant X-ray/IR correlation. During high-variability epochs, we find consistently significant correlations in both α and β classes, but with strong differences in the CCF structure. The high variability α CCF shows strong anti-correlation between X-ray/IR, with the X-ray preceding the IR by ∼13±2 s. The high variability β state shows a time-variable CCF structure, which is statistically significant but without a clearly consistent lag. Our simulated IR light curves, designed to match the observed CCFs, show variably flickering IR emission during the class β high-variability epoch, while class α can be fit by IR flickering with frequencies in the range 0.1-0.3 Hz, strengthening ∼10 s after every X-ray subflare. We interpret these features in the context of the X-ray-emitting accretion disk and IR emission from relativistic jet formation in GRS 1915+105, concluding that the CCF analysis places the origin in a synchrotron-emitting relativistic compact jet at a distance from the compact object of ∼0.02 AU.