Bibcode
Zurita, C.; Casares, J.; Corral-Santana, J.
Referencia bibliográfica
Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics VII, Proceedings of the X Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA), held in Valencia, July 9 - 13, 2012, Eds.: J.C. Guirado, L.M. Lara, V. Quilis, and J. Gorgas., pp.501-510
Advertised on:
5
2013
Número de citas
0
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
X-ray transients (XTs) provide some of the strongest evidence for
the existence of stellar mass black holes (BHs). In these
systems, X-ray outbursts occur over timescales of weeks to months and
are followed by years of quiescence when the optical light from the
system is dominated by the companion star. Successful programs
for determining the orbit of the companion star, and thus the
orbital parameters of the binary -- including the mass of the compact
object -- have been carried out for the last three decades. These mass
measurements have been used to explore the distribution of the stellar
BH masses, which has important implications for the population and
evolution of massive stars, the energetics and dynamics of supernova
explosions, and the critical mass dividing neutron stars and black
holes. However, both the small number of BH candidates and the
systematic uncertainties in the determination of their masses,
prevent us from extracting completely compelling statistical
conclusions. In this paper we review the recent attempts to improve
our understanding of the mass spectrum of collapsed stars, i.e., to
measure their masses more accurately and to enlarge the sample of
known quiescent black holes.