Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
NEW EVIDENCE FOR A BLACK HOLE IN THE COMPACT BINARY CYGNUS X-3
| Content Provider | Scilit |
|---|---|
| Author | Shrader, Chris R. Titarchuk, Lev Shaposhnikov, Nikolai |
| Copyright Year | 2010 |
| Description | Journal: The Astrophysical Journal The bright and highly variable X-ray and radio source known as Cygnus X-3 was among the first X-ray sources discovered, yet it remains in many ways an enigma. Its known to consist of a massive, Wolf-Rayet primary in an extremely tight orbit with a compact object. Yet one of the most basic of parameters - the mass of the compact object - is not known. Nor is it even clear whether its is a neutron star or a black hole. In this Paper we present our analysis of the broad-band high-energy continua covering a substantial range in luminosity and spectral morphology. We apply these results to a recently identified scaling relationship which has been demonstrated to provide reliable estimates of the compact object mass in a number of accretion powered binaries. This analysis leads us to conclude that the compact object in Cygnus X-3 has a mass greater than $4.2M_odot$ thus clearly indicative of a black hole and as such resolving a long-standing issue. The full range of uncertainty in our analysis and from using a range of recently published distance estimates constrains the compact object mass to lie between $4.2M_odot$ and $14.4M_odot$. Our favored estimate, based on a 9.0 kpc distance estimate is $sim 10 M_odot$ with the error margin of 3.2 solar masses. This result may thus pose challenges to shared-envelope evolutionary models of compact binaries, as well as establishing Cygnus X-3 as the first confirmed accretion-powered galactic gamma-ray source. |
| Related Links | http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/718/1/488/pdf |
| Ending Page | 493 |
| Page Count | 6 |
| Starting Page | 488 |
| ISSN | 0004637X |
| DOI | 10.1088/0004-637x/718/1/488 |
| Journal | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Issue Number | 1 |
| Volume Number | 718 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing |
| Publisher Date | 2010-07-01 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Journal: The Astrophysical Journal Astronomy and Astrophysics Wolf Rayet Stars Binary Stars Accretion Disk Black Holes Neutron Stars Wolf Rayet Stellar Mass Compact Object Black Hole Physical Properties Accretion Disks Neutron Star |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
| Subject | Astronomy and Astrophysics Space and Planetary Science |
