THE CONSTANT INNER-DISK RADIUS OF LMC X-3: A BASIS FOR MEASURING BLACK HOLE SPIN
The black hole binary system LMC X-3 has been observed by virtually every X-ray mission since the inception of X-ray astronomy. Among the persistent sources, LMC X-3 is uniquely both habitually soft and highly variable. Using a fully relativistic accretion disk model, we analyze hundreds of spectra...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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IOP Publishing
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95671 |
| _version_ | 1826191879946895360 |
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| author | Steiner, James F. McClintock, Jeffrey E. Gou, Lijun Yamada, Shin'ya Narayan, Ramesh Remillard, Ronald A |
| author2 | MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research |
| author_facet | MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Steiner, James F. McClintock, Jeffrey E. Gou, Lijun Yamada, Shin'ya Narayan, Ramesh Remillard, Ronald A |
| author_sort | Steiner, James F. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The black hole binary system LMC X-3 has been observed by virtually every X-ray mission since the inception of X-ray astronomy. Among the persistent sources, LMC X-3 is uniquely both habitually soft and highly variable. Using a fully relativistic accretion disk model, we analyze hundreds of spectra collected during eight X-ray missions that span 26 years. For a selected sample of 391 RXTE spectra, we find that to within ≈2% the inner radius of the accretion disk is constant over time and unaffected by source variability. Even considering an ensemble of eight X-ray missions, we find consistent values of the radius to within ≈4%-6%. Our results provide strong evidence for the existence of a fixed inner-disk radius. The only reasonable inference is that this radius is closely associated with the general relativistic innermost stable circular orbit. Our findings establish a firm foundation for the measurement of black hole spin. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:02:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/95671 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:02:43Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/956712022-09-30T13:00:12Z THE CONSTANT INNER-DISK RADIUS OF LMC X-3: A BASIS FOR MEASURING BLACK HOLE SPIN Steiner, James F. McClintock, Jeffrey E. Gou, Lijun Yamada, Shin'ya Narayan, Ramesh Remillard, Ronald A MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research Remillard, Ronald Alan The black hole binary system LMC X-3 has been observed by virtually every X-ray mission since the inception of X-ray astronomy. Among the persistent sources, LMC X-3 is uniquely both habitually soft and highly variable. Using a fully relativistic accretion disk model, we analyze hundreds of spectra collected during eight X-ray missions that span 26 years. For a selected sample of 391 RXTE spectra, we find that to within ≈2% the inner radius of the accretion disk is constant over time and unaffected by source variability. Even considering an ensemble of eight X-ray missions, we find consistent values of the radius to within ≈4%-6%. Our results provide strong evidence for the existence of a fixed inner-disk radius. The only reasonable inference is that this radius is closely associated with the general relativistic innermost stable circular orbit. Our findings establish a firm foundation for the measurement of black hole spin. Goddard Space Flight Center 2015-02-26T18:40:50Z 2015-02-26T18:40:50Z 2010-07 2010-01 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2041-8205 2041-8213 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95671 Steiner, James F., Jeffrey E. McClintock, Ronald A. Remillard, Lijun Gou, Shin’ya Yamada, and Ramesh Narayan. “THE CONSTANT INNER-DISK RADIUS OF LMC X-3: A BASIS FOR MEASURING BLACK HOLE SPIN.” The Astrophysical Journal 718, no. 2 (July 9, 2010): L117–L121. © 2010 The American Astronomical Society en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/718/2/l117 Astrophysical Journal. Letters Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf IOP Publishing American Astronomical Society |
| spellingShingle | Steiner, James F. McClintock, Jeffrey E. Gou, Lijun Yamada, Shin'ya Narayan, Ramesh Remillard, Ronald A THE CONSTANT INNER-DISK RADIUS OF LMC X-3: A BASIS FOR MEASURING BLACK HOLE SPIN |
| title | THE CONSTANT INNER-DISK RADIUS OF LMC X-3: A BASIS FOR MEASURING BLACK HOLE SPIN |
| title_full | THE CONSTANT INNER-DISK RADIUS OF LMC X-3: A BASIS FOR MEASURING BLACK HOLE SPIN |
| title_fullStr | THE CONSTANT INNER-DISK RADIUS OF LMC X-3: A BASIS FOR MEASURING BLACK HOLE SPIN |
| title_full_unstemmed | THE CONSTANT INNER-DISK RADIUS OF LMC X-3: A BASIS FOR MEASURING BLACK HOLE SPIN |
| title_short | THE CONSTANT INNER-DISK RADIUS OF LMC X-3: A BASIS FOR MEASURING BLACK HOLE SPIN |
| title_sort | constant inner disk radius of lmc x 3 a basis for measuring black hole spin |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95671 |
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