Recent X-ray and radio observations have identified a transient low-mass X-ray binary ( LMXB ) located only 0.1 pc in projection from the Galactic center , CXOGC J174540.0–290031 ( 32 ; 5 ) .
In this paper , we report the detailed analysis of X-ray and infrared observations of the transient and its surroundings . Chandra observations detect the source at a flux of F _ { X } = 2 \times 10 ^ { -12 } erg cm ^ { -2 } s ^ { -1 } ( 2–8 keV ) .
After accounting for absorption both in the interstellar medium and in material local to the source , the implied luminosity of the source is only L _ { X } = 4 \times 10 ^ { 34 } erg s ^ { -1 } ( 2–8 keV ; D = 8 kpc ) .
However , the diffuse X-ray emission near the source also brightened by a factor of 2 .
The enhanced diffuse X-ray emission lies on top of a known ridge of dust and ionized gas that is visible infrared images .
We interpret the X-ray emission as scattered flux from the outburst , and determine that the peak luminosity of CXOGC J174540.0–290031 was L _ { X } \gtrsim 2 \times 10 ^ { 36 } erg s ^ { -1 } .
We suggest that the relatively small observed flux results from the fact that the system is observed nearly edge-on , so that the accretion disk intercepts most of the flux emitted along our line of sight .
We compare the inferred peak X-ray luminosity to that of the radio jet .
The ratio of the X-ray to radio luminosities , L _ { X } / L _ { R } \lesssim 10 ^ { 4 } , is considerably smaller than in other known LMXBs ( \gtrsim 10 ^ { 5 } ) .
This is probably because the jets are radiating with unusually high efficiency at the point where they impact the surrounding interstellar medium .
This hypothesis is supported by a comparison with mid-infrared images of the surrounding dust .
Finally , we find that the minimum power required to produce the jet , L _ { jet } \sim 10 ^ { 37 } erg s ^ { -1 } , is comparable to the inferred peak X-ray luminosity .
This is the most direct evidence yet obtained that LMXBs accreting at low rates release about half of their energy as jets .