Estimating the Spins of Stellar-Mass Black Holes

Abstract

We describe a program that we have embarked on to estimate the spins of stellar-mass black holes in X-ray binaries. We fit the continuum X-ray spectrum of the radiation from the accretion disk using the standard thin disk model, and extract the dimensionless spin parameter a* = a/M of the black hole as a parameter of the fit. We have obtained results on three systems, 4U 1543-47 (a* = 0.7-0.85), GRO J1655-40 (0.65-0.8), and GRS 1915+105 (0.98-1), and have nearly completed analysis of two additional systems. We anticipate expanding the sample of spin estimates to about a dozen over the next several years.

arXiv comment10 Pages, 3 Figures, 1 Table. To appear in Black Holes, eds. M. Livio and A. Koekemoer (Cambridge University Press), in press (2008)

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• A Determination of the Spin of the Black Hole Primary in LMC X-1
• A systematic look at the Very High and Low/Hard state of GX 339-4: Constraining the black hole spin with a new reflection model
• The 2003 Outburst of the X-ray Transient H 1743-322: Comparisons with the Black Hole Microquasar XTE J1550-564
• No evidence for black hole spin powering of jets in X-ray binaries
• Measuring Black Hole Spin by the Continuum-Fitting Method: Effect of Deviations from the Novikov-Thorne Disc Model
• Spectral States and Evolution of Ultraluminous X-ray Sources
• Physical origin of the nonphysical spin evolution of MAXI J1820+070
• Long-Term Spectral Variations of Ultraluminous X-ray Sources in the Interacting Galaxy Systems M51 and NGC4490/85
• Measuring the Spins of Stellar Black Holes: A Progress Report
• Measuring the Spins of Stellar-Mass Black Holes
• Super-spinning compact objects and models of high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations observed in Galactic microquasars. II. Forced resonances