A Large Misalignment between Continuous Jet and Discrete Ejecta in Microquasar GRS 1915+105 during Its Obscured Phase

Abstract We report a large misalignment between the continuous jet and the discrete ejecta in GRS 1915+105, detected in 2023 April with the East Asian VLBI network (EAVN). Two-sided ejecta are shown at 6.7 GHz images, and central continuous jets are resolved at 43 GHz by EAVN quasi-simultaneously. While the continuous jet was aligned with the long-standing jet position angle (PA) of ∼147 ∘ , the discrete ejecta appeared at a markedly different PA ∼188 ∘ , with the lowest intrinsic velocity ∼0.35 c ever reported. A similar misalignment of PA between discrete ejecta and continuous jet was independently detected in late September of 2023 during a consecutive flare event. The pronounced and recurrent angular deviations suggest a time-variable jet launching geometry, which, in conjunction with the observed X-ray obscuration, can be attributable to a warped accretion disk. Our result could offer new insight into the fundamental differences between continuous jet and discrete ejecta, and broadly provides a clue to understand the phenomena for transient black hole X-ray binaries and changing-look active galactic nuclei during the X-ray-obscured phase.