Proof of principle X-ray reflection mass measurement of the black hole in H1743−322
ABSTRACT The black hole X-ray binary H1743−322 lies in a region of the Galaxy with high extinction, and therefore it has not been possible to make a dynamical mass measurement. In this paper, we make use of a recent model which uses the X-ray reflection spectrum to constrain the ratio of the black hole mass to the source distance. By folding in a reported distance measurement, we are able to estimate the mass of the black hole to be $12\pm 2~\text{M}_\odot {}$ ($1\sigma$ credible interval). We are then able to revise a previous disc continuum fitting estimate of black hole spin $a_*$ (previously relying on a population mass distribution) using our new mass constraint, finding $a_*=0.47\pm 0.10$. This work is a proof of principle demonstration of the method, showing it can be used to find the mass of black holes in X-ray binaries.
Authors
- Erin Kara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0172-0854)
- Javier A. García (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3828-2448)
- Adam Ingram (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5311-9078)
- Riley Connors (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8908-759X)
- Thomas Dauser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4583-9048)
- M. van der Klis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0070-9872)
- Ole König (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8670-4575)
- Matteo Lucchini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2235-3347)
- Edward Nathan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9633-9193)
- Jingyi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1742-2125)
- Guglielmo Mastroserio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4216-7936)
- James F. Steiner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5872-6061)
Institutions
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Vassar College (US)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (US)
- University of Milan (IT)
- Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (US)
- Sonneberg Observatory (DE)
- Villanova University (US)
- Newcastle University (GB)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Published
- 2024-08-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stae1896
- Citations
- 7
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.32
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Nuclear Safety and Security Commission
- Goddard Space Flight Center
- Astrophysics Science Division