The long-term optical evolution of the black hole candidate MAXI J1659-152

Corral-Santana, J. M.; Torres, M. A. P.; Shahbaz, T.; Bartlett, Elizabeth S.; Russell, David M.; Kong, Albert K. H.; Casares, J.; Muñoz-Darias, T.; Bauer, Franz E.; Homan, Jeroen; Jonker, Peter G.; Mata Sánchez, D.; Wevers, Thomas; Rodríguez-Gil, P.; Lewis, Fraser; Schreuder, Laurien
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 475, Issue 1, p.1036-1045

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3
2018
Number of authors
16
IAC number of authors
6
Citations
8
Refereed citations
7
Description
We present 5 yr of optical and infrared data of the black hole candidate MAXI J1659-152 covering its 2010 outburst, decay, and quiescence. Combining optical data taken during the outburst decay, we obtain an orbital period of 2.414 ± 0.005 h, in perfect agreement with the value previously measured from X-ray dips. In addition, we detect a clear H α excess in MAXI J1659-152 with data taken during the outburst decay. We also detect a single hump modulation most likely produced by irradiation. Assuming that the maximum occurs at orbital phase 0.5, we constrain the phase of the X-ray dips to be ˜0.65. We also detect the quiescent optical counterpart at r΄ = 24.20 ± 0.08, I = 23.32 ± 0.02, and H = 20.7 ± 0.1. These magnitudes provide colour indices implying an M2-M5 donor star assuming 60 per cent contribution from a disc component in the r΄ band.
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