Bibcode
González Hernández, J. I.; Suárez-Andrés, L.; Rebolo, R.; Casares, J.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, Volume 465, Issue 1, p.L15-L19
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2
2017
Citations
27
Refereed citations
23
Description
We present new medium-resolution spectroscopic observations of the black
hole X-ray binary Nova Muscae 1991 taken with X-Shooter spectrograph
installed at the 8.2-m VLT telescope. These observations allow us to
measure the time of inferior conjunction of the secondary star with the
black hole in this system that, together with previous measurements,
yield an orbital period decay of dot{P}=-20.7± 12.7 ms
yr-1 (-24.5 ± 15.1 μs per orbital cycle). This is
significantly faster than those previously measured in the other black
hole X-ray binaries A0620-00 and XTE J1118+480. No standard black hole
X-ray binary evolutionary model is able to explain this extremely fast
orbital decay. At this rate, the secondary star would reach the event
horizon (as given by the Schwarzschild radius of about 32 km) in roughly
2.7 Myr. This result has dramatic implications on the evolution and
lifetime of black hole X-ray binaries.
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Black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs and their local environment
Accreting black-holes and neutron stars in X-ray binaries provide an ideal laboratory for exploring the physics of compact objects, yielding not only confirmation of the existence of stellar mass black holes via dynamical mass measurements, but also the best opportunity for probing high-gravity environments and the physics of accretion; the most
Montserrat
Armas Padilla