Evidence of a supernova origin for the black hole in the system GRO J1655 - 40

Bibcode
1999Natur.401..142I
DOI
10.1038/43625
Israelian, G.; Rebolo, R.; Basri, G.; Casares, J.; Martín, E. L.
Bibliographical reference

Nature, Volume 401, Issue 6749, pp. 142-144 (1999).

Advertised on:
9
1999
Journal
Nature
Number of authors
5
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
183
Refereed citations
134
Description
Stars with masses greater than about ten solar masses are thought to end their lives either in a supernova or in a direct gravitational collapse process, either of which could have a black hole as a remnant. But there is as yet no direct observational evidence to support either gravitational collapse in general or the formation of black hole remnants in particular. Here we report a large overabundance of oxygen, magnesium, silicon and sulphur in the atmosphere of the star orbiting a probable black hole in the binary system GRO J1655-40 (also known as Nova Scorpii 1994). These α-elements are six to ten times more abundant in the star's atmosphere than they are in the Sun's. We interpret these high abundances as evidence for supernova ejecta captured by the companion star. The relative abundances of these elements suggest that the supernova progenitor was in the mass range 25-40 solar masses.
Type
Refereed

It may interest you

  • Refereed
    Euclid preparation. XXXVI. Modelling the weak lensing angular power spectrum

    This work considers which higher order modeling effects on the cosmic shear angular power spectra must be taken into account for Euclid. We identified the relevant terms and quantified their individual and cumulative impact on the cosmological parameter inferences from Euclid. We computed the values of these higher order effects using analytic

    Euclid Collaboration et al.

    Advertised on:

    4
    2024
    Bibcode
    2024A&A...684A.138E
    Citations
    4
  • Refereed
    The discovery space of ELT-ANDES. Stars and stellar populations

    The ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph (ANDES) is the optical and near-infrared high-resolution echelle spectrograph envisioned for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). We present a selection of science cases, supported by new calculations and simulations, where ANDES could enable major advances in the fields of stars and stellar

    Roederer, Ian U. et al.

    Advertised on:

    4
    2024
    Bibcode
    2024ExA....57...17R
    Citations
    0
  • Refereed
    Euclid preparation. XXXVII. Galaxy colour selections with Euclid and ground photometry for cluster weak-lensing analyses

    Aims: We derived galaxy colour selections from Euclid and ground-based photometry, aiming to accurately define background galaxy samples in cluster weak-lensing analyses. These selections have been implemented in the Euclid data analysis pipelines for galaxy clusters. Methods: Given any set of photometric bands, we developed a method for the

    Euclid Collaboration et al.

    Advertised on:

    4
    2024
    Bibcode
    2024A&A...684A.139E
    Citations
    2