An Extreme Black Hole in the Recurrent X-Ray Transient XTE J2012+381
The black hole (BH) candidate XTE J2012+381 underwent an outburst at the end of 2022. We analyzed 105 NICER observations and two NuSTAR observations of the source during the outburst. The NuSTAR observations of the M ∼ 10 M _⊙ BH indicate clear signs of relativistic disk reflection, which we modeled...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2023-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ace7b3 |
| _version_ | 1827828240516907008 |
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| author | Paul A. Draghis Jon M. Miller McKinley C. Brumback Andrew C. Fabian John A. Tomsick Abderahmen Zoghbi |
| author_facet | Paul A. Draghis Jon M. Miller McKinley C. Brumback Andrew C. Fabian John A. Tomsick Abderahmen Zoghbi |
| author_sort | Paul A. Draghis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The black hole (BH) candidate XTE J2012+381 underwent an outburst at the end of 2022. We analyzed 105 NICER observations and two NuSTAR observations of the source during the outburst. The NuSTAR observations of the M ∼ 10 M _⊙ BH indicate clear signs of relativistic disk reflection, which we modeled to measure a BH spin of $a={0.988}_{-0.030}^{+0.008}$ and an inclination of $\theta ={68}_{-11}^{+6}$ deg (1 σ statistical errors). In our analysis, we test an array of models and examine the effect of fitting NuSTAR spectra alone versus fitting simultaneously with NICER. We find that when the underlying continuum emission is properly accounted for, the reflected emission is similarly characterized by multiple models. We combined 52 NICER spectra to obtain a spectrum with an effective exposure of 190 ks in order to probe the presence of absorption lines that would be suggestive of disk winds, but the resulting features were not statistically significant. We discuss the implications of this measurement in relation to the overall BH spin distribution in X-ray binary systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:48:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1c1b68744e774a479615f4901af0d20d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1538-4357 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T03:48:11Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | The Astrophysical Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-1c1b68744e774a479615f4901af0d20d2023-09-03T12:36:02ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572023-01-0195416210.3847/1538-4357/ace7b3An Extreme Black Hole in the Recurrent X-Ray Transient XTE J2012+381Paul A. Draghis0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2218-2306Jon M. Miller1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2869-7682McKinley C. Brumback2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4024-6967Andrew C. Fabian3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9378-4072John A. Tomsick4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5506-9855Abderahmen Zoghbi5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0572-9613Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan , 1085 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA ; pdraghis@umich.eduDepartment of Astronomy, University of Michigan , 1085 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA ; pdraghis@umich.eduDepartment of Astronomy, University of Michigan , 1085 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA ; pdraghis@umich.eduInstitute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge , Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA, UKSpace Sciences Laboratory, 7 Gauss Way, University of California , Berkeley, CA 94720-7450, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Maryland , College Park, MD 20742, USA; HEASARC , Code 6601, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA; CRESST II, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, MD 20771, USAThe black hole (BH) candidate XTE J2012+381 underwent an outburst at the end of 2022. We analyzed 105 NICER observations and two NuSTAR observations of the source during the outburst. The NuSTAR observations of the M ∼ 10 M _⊙ BH indicate clear signs of relativistic disk reflection, which we modeled to measure a BH spin of $a={0.988}_{-0.030}^{+0.008}$ and an inclination of $\theta ={68}_{-11}^{+6}$ deg (1 σ statistical errors). In our analysis, we test an array of models and examine the effect of fitting NuSTAR spectra alone versus fitting simultaneously with NICER. We find that when the underlying continuum emission is properly accounted for, the reflected emission is similarly characterized by multiple models. We combined 52 NICER spectra to obtain a spectrum with an effective exposure of 190 ks in order to probe the presence of absorption lines that would be suggestive of disk winds, but the resulting features were not statistically significant. We discuss the implications of this measurement in relation to the overall BH spin distribution in X-ray binary systems.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ace7b3Black holesAstrophysical black holesHigh energy astrophysicsAccretionX-ray binary stars |
| spellingShingle | Paul A. Draghis Jon M. Miller McKinley C. Brumback Andrew C. Fabian John A. Tomsick Abderahmen Zoghbi An Extreme Black Hole in the Recurrent X-Ray Transient XTE J2012+381 The Astrophysical Journal Black holes Astrophysical black holes High energy astrophysics Accretion X-ray binary stars |
| title | An Extreme Black Hole in the Recurrent X-Ray Transient XTE J2012+381 |
| title_full | An Extreme Black Hole in the Recurrent X-Ray Transient XTE J2012+381 |
| title_fullStr | An Extreme Black Hole in the Recurrent X-Ray Transient XTE J2012+381 |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Extreme Black Hole in the Recurrent X-Ray Transient XTE J2012+381 |
| title_short | An Extreme Black Hole in the Recurrent X-Ray Transient XTE J2012+381 |
| title_sort | extreme black hole in the recurrent x ray transient xte j2012 381 |
| topic | Black holes Astrophysical black holes High energy astrophysics Accretion X-ray binary stars |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ace7b3 |
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