Dynamical Evidence for a Black Hole in the Microquasar XTE J1550–564

By J. Orosz, Paul J. Groot, M. van der Klis, J. E. McClintock, Michael R. Garcia, P. Zhao, R. Jain, C. Bailyn, Ronald A. Remillard. 2001

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Optical spectroscopic observations of the companion star (type G8 IV to K4 III) in the microquasar system XTE J1550-564 reveal a radial velocity curve with a best-fitting spectroscopic period of Psp = 1.552 ± 0.010 days and a semiamplitude of K2 = 349 ± 12 km s-1. The optical mass function is f(M) = 6.86 ± 0.71 M☉ (1 σ). We tentatively measure the rotational velocity of the companion star to be Vrot sin i = 90 ± 10 km s-1, which when taken at face value implies a mass ratio of Q ≡ M1/M2 = 6.6 (1 σ), using the above value of K2. We derive constraints on the binary parameters from simultaneous modeling of the ellipsoidal light and radial velocity curves. We find 1 σ ranges for the photometric period (1.5430 days ≤ Pph ≤ 1.5440 days), K-velocity (350.2 ≤ K2 ≤ 368.6 km s-1), inclination (67.°0 ≤ i ≤ 77.°4), mass ratio (Q ≥ 12.0), and orbital separation (11.55 R☉ ≤ a ≤ 12.50 R☉). Given these geometrical constraints, we find that the most likely value of the mass of the compact object is 9.41 M☉ with a 1 σ range of 8.36 M☉ ≤ M1 ≤ 10.76 M☉. If we apply our tentative value of Vrot sin i = 90 ± 10 km s-1 as an additional constraint in the ellipsoidal modeling, we find 1 σ ranges of 1.5432 days ≤ Pph ≤ 1.5441 days for the photometric period, 352.2 ≤ K2 ≤ 370.1 km s-1 for the K-velocity, 70.°8 ≤ i ≤ 75.°4 for the inclination, 6.7 ≤ Q ≤ 11.0 for the mass ratio, and 12.35 R☉ ≤ a ≤ 13.22 R☉ for the orbital separation. These geometrical constraints imply the most likely value of the mass of the compact object of 10.56 M☉ with a 1 σ range of 9.68 M☉ ≤ M1 ≤ 11.58 M☉. In either case the mass of the compact object is well above the maximum mass of a stable neutron star, and we therefore conclude that XTE J1550-564 contains a black hole.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Instrumentation

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AN IMPROVED DYNAMICAL MODEL FOR THE MICROQUASAR XTE J1550−564 (2011, methodology): “In Orosz et al. (2002), using the lowresolution spectra available to us then, we adopted for the projected rotational velocity of the companion star the “tentative value of Vrot sin i = 90 ± 10 km s−1.””
Relativistic Accretion Disk Models of High-State Black Hole X-Ray Binary Spectra (2004, result): “In this case, they are in approximate agreement with the observed values for i = 70, which is near the measured inclination of 73.5+1.9 −2.7 for XTE J1550-564 (Orosz et al. 2002).”
STELLAR-MASS BLACK HOLE SPIN CONSTRAINTS FROM DISK REFLECTION AND CONTINUUM MODELING (2009, background): “Please see Section 2 for additional details. a Parameters taken from Park et al. (2004). b Parameters taken from Orosz et al. (2002).c Parameters taken from Orosz et al. (2004).d Parameters taken from Orosz & Bailyn (1997) and Hjellming & Rupen (1995).e Parameters taken from Hynes et al. (2003,…”
Do X-ray binary spectral state transition luminosities vary? (2003, background): “…the ellipsoidal modulation modeling in the last 7 years, the largest uncertainties often come from other considerations, typically the reddening or spectral type of the mass donor; typical errors in the inclination angle are now less than 5 degrees (see e.g. Gelino et al. 2001; Orosz et al. 2002).”
REFINED NEUTRON STAR MASS DETERMINATIONS FOR SIX ECLIPSING X-RAY PULSAR BINARIES (2011, methodology): “In the latter case, a “breeding” technique is used that is based on the “survival of the fittest” (Orosz et al. 2002).”
The orbital resonance model for twin peak kHz quasi periodic oscillations in microquasars (2005, background): “…& Remillard (2004), state νupp/νlow = 242 (±3 Hz) /166 (±5 Hz). d Twin peak kHz QPOs reported by Remillard et al. (2003). e See Greene et al. (2001); Orosz et al. (2002); Greiner et al. (2001), and McClintock & Remillard (2003). general accretion flows, the idea may be best illustrated in the…”
Global General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamic Simulation of a Tilted Black Hole Accretion Disk (2007, background): “…observational evidence in several black hole X-ray binaries, e.g., GRO J1655 40 (Orosz & Bailyn 1997) and XTE J1550 564 (Hannikainen et al. 2001; Orosz et al. 2002), and AGNs, e.g., NGC 3079 (Kondratko et al. 2005), NGC 1068 (Caproni et al. 2006), and NGC 4258 (Caproni et al. 2007), suggesting…”
WATCHDOG: A COMPREHENSIVE ALL-SKY DATABASE OF GALACTIC BLACK HOLE X-RAY BINARIES (2015, background): “…Harlaftis et al. (1999), [20] Webb et al. (2000), [21] Beer & Podsiadlowski (2002), [22] Hjellming & Rupen (1995), [23] Shahbaz et al. (1999), [24] Orosz et al. (2002), [25] Filippenko et al. (1999), [26] Shahbaz et al. (1996b), [27] della Valle et al. (1994), [28] Masetti et al. (1996), [29]…”
The spin of the black hole microquasar XTE J1550−564 via the continuum-fitting and Fe-line methods (2010, background): “D was uncertain by ≈45 per cent; Orosz et al. 2002).”
On the formation and evolution of black hole binaries (2002, background): “1 I N T RO D U C T I O N There are currently 17 binary systems containing black holes for which dynamical mass estimates are available (see e.g. table 1 of Lee, Brown & Wijers (2002) [LBW], and references therein; Orosz et al. 2002).”
Global optical/infrared-X-ray correlations in X-ray binaries: quantifying disc and jet contributions (2006, unknown): “…& van den Heuvel (2001); (15) Ritter & Kolb (2003); (16) Cowley et al. (1983); (17) Gelino, Harrison & Orosz (2001); (18) Esin et al. (2000); (19) Orosz et al. (2002); (20) Hynes et al. (1998); (21) Hynes et al. (2003a); (22) Hynes et al. (2002a); (23) Shrader et al. (1997); (24) Soria et al.…”
THE MASS OF THE BLACK HOLE IN CYGNUS X-1 (2011, methodology): “As discussed in Orosz et al. (2002), the radius and velocity constraints are imposed by adding additional terms to the value of χ2: χ2con = ( Ropt − Rdist σRdist )2 + ( Vrot sin i − 95 6 )2 .”
The Three Spectral Regimes Found in the Stellar Black Hole XTE J1550–564 in Its High/Soft State (2003, unknown): “Optical observations have established that the system consists of a late type sub giant (G8IV to K4III) and a black hole, the latter having a dynamical mass of MX = 8.4–11.2 M⊙ (Orosz et al. 2002).”
Estimating the Spin of Stellar-Mass Black Holes by Spectral Fitting of the X-Ray Continuum (2005, methodology): “For example, we attempted to analyze the BH candidate XTE J1550-564 using the methods described here, but since the distance to this source is quite uncertain, D = 5.9+1.7 −3.1 (Orosz et al. 2002), we were unable to obtain any useful constraint on a∗.”
Evidence for Harmonic Relationships in the High-Frequency Quasi-periodic Oscillations of XTE J1550–564 and GRO J1655–40 (2002, methodology): “For the case of XTE J1550 564, a black hole mass of 8.5–11.5 M (Orosz et al. 2002) can be combined with the HFQPO oscillations to constrain the value of a* using the resonance model, as shown in the top left-hand panel of Figure 8.”