Black Hole Spin via Continuum Fitting and the Role of Spin in Powering Transient Jets

Abstract

The spins of ten stellar black holes have been measured using the continuum-fitting method. These black holes are located in two distinct classes of X-ray binary systems, one that is persistently X-ray bright and another that is transient. Both the persistent and transient black holes remain for long periods in a state where their spectra are dominated by a thermal accretion disk component. The spin of a black hole of known mass and distance can be measured by fitting this thermal continuum spectrum to the thin-disk model of Novikov and Thorne; the key fit parameter is the radius of the inner edge of the black hole's accretion disk. Strong observational and theoretical evidence links the inner-disk radius to the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit, which is trivially related to the dimensionless spin parameter a_* of the black hole (|a_*| < 1). The ten spins that have so far been measured by this continuum-fitting method range widely from a_* \approx 0 to a_* > 0.95. The robustness of the method is demonstrated by the dozens or hundreds of independent and consistent measurements of spin that have been obtained for several black holes, and through careful consideration of many sources of systematic error. Among the results discussed is a dichotomy between the transient and persistent black holes; the latter have higher spins and larger masses. Also discussed is recently discovered evidence in the transient sources for a correlation between the power of ballistic jets and black hole spin.

30 pages. Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews. Also to appear in hard cover in the Space Sciences Series of ISSI "The Physics of Accretion onto Black Holes" (Springer Publisher). Changes to Sections 5.2, 6.1 and 7.4. Section 7.4 responds to Russell et al. 2013 (MNRAS, 431, 405) who find no evidence for a correlation between the power of ballistic jets and black hole spin

References in corpus (26)

• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• Some Aspects of Measurement Error in Linear Regression of Astronomical Data
• Advection-Dominated Accretion and the Black Hole Event Horizon
• Measuring Black Hole Spin using X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy
• Stability of Relativistic Jets from Rotating, Accreting Black Holes via Fully Three-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations
• A Metric for Rapidly Spinning Black Holes Suitable for Strong-Field Tests of the No-Hair Theorem
• The Nature of SS433 and the Ultraluminous X-ray Sources
• The Influence of Magnetic Field Geometry on the Evolution of Black Hole Accretion Flows: Similar Disks, Drastically Different Jets
• A 15.65 solar mass black hole in an eclipsing binary in the nearby spiral galaxy Messier 33
• Testing Accretion Disk Theory in Black Hole X-ray Binaries
• Three-Dimensional Simulations of Magnetized Thin Accretion Disks around Black Holes: Stress in the Plunging Region
• A Determination of the Spin of the Black Hole Primary in LMC X-1
• A Grid of Relativistic, non-LTE Accretion Disk Models for Spectral Fitting of Black Hole Binaries
• The 2003 Outburst of the X-ray Transient H 1743-322: Comparisons with the Black Hole Microquasar XTE J1550-564
• X-ray reflection in accreting stellar-mass black hole systems
• Jet Power and Black Hole Spin: Testing an Empirical Relationship and Using it to Predict the Spins of Six Black Holes
• Thermal disc emission from a rotating black hole: X-ray polarization signatures
• The not-so-massive black hole in the microquasar GRS1915+105
• Observational constraints on the powering mechanism of transient relativistic jets
• A transient relativistic radio jet from Cygnus X-1
• Viscous Torque and Dissipation in the Inner Region of a Thin Accretion Disk: Implications for Measuring Black Hole Spin
• Angular Momentum Transport in Accretion Disks and its Implications for Spin Estimates in Black Hole Binaries
• GRMHD prediction of coronal variability in accreting black holes
• The Case for Hypercritical Accretion in M33 X-7
• Testing the space-time geometry around black hole candidates with the available radio and X-ray data
• Ionization Cone in the X-ray Binary LMC X-1

Cited by in corpus (242)

• Hot Accretion Flows Around Black Holes
• Testing the nature of dark compact objects: a status report
• Black holes, gravitational waves and fundamental physics: a roadmap
• A new route towards merging massive black holes
• Discovering the QCD Axion with Black Holes and Gravitational Waves
• GW150914: First results from the search for binary black hole coalescence with Advanced LIGO
• Observing the shadow of Einstein-Maxwell-Dilaton-Axion black hole
• Testing black hole candidates with electromagnetic radiation
• Black Hole Superradiance Signatures of Ultralight Vectors
• Cygnus X-1 contains a 21-solar mass black hole -- implications for massive star winds
• Observational Constraints on Black Hole Spin
• The spin of the second-born black hole in coalescing binary black holes
• Testing the black hole "no-hair" hypothesis
• Black hole superradiance of self-interacting scalar fields
• Implementing a search for aligned-spin neutron star -- black hole systems with advanced ground based gravitational wave detectors
• Testing the No-Hair Theorem with Event Horizon Telescope Observations of Sagittarius A*
• Effects of the microphysical Equation of State in the mergers of magnetized Neutron Stars With Neutrino Cooling
• Black Hole Parameter Estimation from Its Shadow
• Upper limits on the rates of binary neutron star and neutron-star--black-hole mergers from Advanced LIGO's first observing run
• X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy of the Black Hole GX 339-4: Exploring the Hard State with Unprecedented Sensitivity
• Dynamical mass ejection from black hole-neutron star binaries
• The Spin of Supermassive Black Holes
• High-Density Effects in X-ray Reflection Models from Accretion Disks
• The Kerr Metric
• Linking Tests of Gravity On All Scales: from the Strong-Field Regime to Cosmology
• Relativistic Jets in Active Galactic Nuclei und Microquasars
• Detectability of compact binary merger macronovae
• Neutrino-dominated accretion flows as the central engine of gamma-ray bursts
• Testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis using X-ray reflection spectroscopy
• Towards precision measurements of accreting black holes using X-ray reflection spectroscopy
• An effective formalism for testing extensions to General Relativity with gravitational waves
• Bardeen-Petterson Alignment, Jets and Magnetic Truncation in GRMHD Simulations of Tilted Thin Accretion Discs
• The Origin of Black Hole Spin in Galactic Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• Potential Kick Velocity distribution of black hole X-ray binaries and implications for natal kicks
• NuSTAR and Suzaku observations of the hard state in Cygnus X-1: locating the inner accretion disk
• Sgr A* and General Relativity
• On the Origin of Black Hole Spin in High-mass X-Ray Binaries
• NuSTAR and Swift observations of the very high state in GX 339-4: Weighing the black hole with X-rays
• Numerical Relativity and Astrophysics
• Searches for Continuous-Wave Gravitational Radiation
• Constraints on Binary Black Hole Populations from LIGO-Virgo Detections
• Gravitational wave echoes through new windows
• Research Note: The Expected Spins of Gravitational Wave Sources With Isolated Field Binary Progenitors
• Cosmic Rates of Black Hole Mergers and Pair-Instability Supernovae from Chemically Homogeneous Binary Evolution
• Astrophysical Black Holes: A Compact Pedagogical Review
• Disc Tearing and Bardeen-Petterson Alignment in GRMHD Simulations of Highly Tilted Thin Accretion Discs
• Black Hole Spin Constraints on the Mass Spectrum and Number of Axion-like Fields
• Improved methods for simulating nearly extremal binary black holes
• Directed searches for gravitational waves from ultralight bosons
• Characterizing the continuous gravitational-wave signal from boson clouds around Galactic isolated black holes
• The complex accretion geometry of GX 339-4 as seen by NuSTAR and Swift
• Testing the no-hair theorem with the continuum-fitting and the iron line methods: a short review
• Extracting black-hole rotational energy: The generalized Penrose process
• Testing the No-Hair Theorem with Observations of Black Holes in the Electromagnetic Spectrum
• Efficiency of Thin Magnetically-Arrested Disks Around Black Holes
• Modelling spectral and timing properties of accreting black holes: the hybrid hot flow paradigm
• Search for ultralight bosons in Cygnus X-1 with Advanced LIGO
• Implications from Late-Time X-ray Detections of Optically Selected Tidal Disruption Events: State Changes, Unification, and Detection Rates
• Charged particle motion and electromagnetic field in $\gamma$ spacetime
• Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts During the First Advanced LIGO Observing Run and Implications for the Origin of GRB 150906B
• Self-Consistent Black Hole Accretion Spectral Models and the Forgotten Role of Coronal Comptonization of Reflection Emission
• Mass-redshift Degeneracy for Gravitational-wave Sources in the Vicinity of a Supermassive Black Hole
• Relativistic mergers of black hole binaries have large, similar masses, low spins and are circular
• Can the dynamics of test particles around charged stringy black holes mimic the spin of Kerr black holes?
• The last migration trap of compact objects in AGN accretion disc
• Test particle motion around black hole in Einstein-Maxwell-scalar theory
• A new radio census of neutron star X-ray binaries
• Using iron line reverberation and spectroscopy to distinguish Kerr and non-Kerr black holes
• The Mass of the Black Hole in LMC X-3
• Accuracy and precision of gravitational-wave models of inspiraling neutron star -- black hole binaries with spin: comparison with numerical relativity in the low-frequency regime
• Electromagnetic counterparts of black hole-neutron star mergers: dependence on the neutron star properties
• Dark photon superradiance: Electrodynamics and multimessenger signals
• Re-estimating the Spin Parameter of the Black Hole in Cygnus X-1
• Unraveling the origin of black holes from effective spin measurements with LIGO-Virgo
• Analytical high-order post-Newtonian expansions for spinning extreme mass ratio binaries
• SuperRad: Modeling the black hole superradiance gravitational waveform
• Shocks in the relativistic transonic accretion with low angular momentum
• The Mass of the Black Hole in the X-ray Binary Nova Muscae 1991
• Nearly extremal apparent horizons in simulations of merging black holes
• Testing the Kerr metric with the iron line and the KRZ parametrization
• A dichotomy between the hard state spectral properties of black hole and neutron star X-ray~binaries
• Mass loss from advective accretion disc around rotating black holes
• Accuracy of binary black hole waveform models for aligned-spin binaries
• Reflection spectra of thick accretion disks
• A study of the strong gravity region of the black hole in GS 1354-645
• Accretion in Strong Field Gravity with eXTP
• HEROIC: 3D General Relativistic Radiative Postprocessor with Comptonization for Black Hole Accretion Discs
• Testing the Kerr Nature of Black Hole Candidates using Iron Line Spectra in the CPR Framework
• Particle motion around generic black holes coupled to non-linear electrodynamics
• Black hole superradiance and polarization-dependent bending of light
• The balance of power: accretion and feedback in stellar mass black holes
• Rapid Black Hole Spin-down by Thick Magnetically Arrested Disks
• Black hole spin-orbit misalignment in the X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070
• Testing the Kerr Black Hole Hypothesis with GX 339-4 by a combined analysis of its thermal spectrum and reflection features
• Blandford-Znajek mechanism in black holes in alternative theories of gravity
• Circular Orbits Structure and Thin Accretion Disks around Kerr Black Holes with Scalar Hair
• Charged particle motion around a quasi-Kerr compact object immersed in an external magnetic field
• Motion of Charged Particles around a Weakly Magnetized Rotating Black Hole
• Estimation of mass outflow rates from dissipative accretion disc around rotating black holes
• On the Formation of Galactic Black Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• New Constraints on the Spin of the Black Hole Cygnus X-1 and the Physical Properties of its Accretion Disk Corona
• The Spin of The Black Hole in the X-ray Binary Nova Muscae 1991
• Numerical investigation of plasma-driven superradiant instabilities
• Difficulties of Quantitative Tests of the Kerr-Hypothesis with X-Ray Observations of Mass Accreting Black Holes
• Observational properties of puffy disks: radiative GRMHD spectra of mildly sub-Eddington accretion
• Black Hole Spin in X-ray Binaries: Giving Uncertainties an $f$
• Maximum Observable Blueshift from Circular Equatorial Kerr Orbiters
• Relativistic Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton Accretion onto a Rotating Black-Hole: Density Gradients
• Testing general relativity with the stellar-mass black hole in LMC X-1 using the continuum-fitting method
• Marginal Deformations and Rotating Horizons
• Testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis with GRS 1716-249 by combining the continuum-fitting and the iron-line methods
• Energy extraction from boosted black holes: Penrose process, jets, and the membrane at infinity
• XSPEC model for testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis using the continuum-fitting method
• Models of high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations and black hole spin estimates in Galactic microquasars
• A Comprehensive Chandra Study of the Disk Wind in the Black Hole Candidate 4U 1630-472
• Inspiral of a Spinning Black Hole--Magnetized Neutron Star Binary: Increasing Charge and Electromagnetic Emission
• Observing Supermassive Black Holes across cosmic time: from phenomenology to physics
• Testing the nature of the supermassive black hole candidate in SgrA* with light curves and images of hot spots
• Stronger Reflection from Black Hole Accretion Disks in Soft X-ray States
• General Relativistic Numerical Simulation of sub-Keplerian Transonic Accretion Flows onto Rotating Black Holes: Kerr Spacetime
• Astrometric observations of X-ray binaries using very long baseline interferometry
• EHT observables as a tool to estimate parameters of supermassive black holes
• Observational Evidence for Black Holes
• Escape of Charged Particles Moving around a Weakly Magnetized Kerr Black Hole
• Estimation of the black hole spin in LMC X-1 using AstroSat
• First X-ray polarization measurement confirms the low black-hole spin in LMC X-3
• Tell-Tale Spectral Signatures of MHD-driven Ultra-Fast Outflows in AGNs
• Testing General Relativity's No-Hair Theorem with X-Ray Observations of Black Holes
• Self-similar accretion in thin disks around near-extremal black holes
• Origin of Spin-Orbit Misalignments: The Microblazar V4641 Sgr
• Testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis with the continuum-fitting and the iron line methods: the case of GRS 1915+105
• Unified description of astrophysical properties of neutron stars independent of the equation of state
• About the Kerr nature of the stellar-mass black hole in GRS 1915+105
• The three-fold theoretical basis of the Gravity Probe B gyro precession calculation
• Exploring the radial disc ionization profile of the black hole X-ray binary GRS 1915+105
• Signatures of Einstein-Maxwell dilaton-axion gravity from the observed jet power and the radiative efficiency
• A Dynamical Study of the Black Hole X-ray Binary Nova Muscae 1991
• Testing the Kerr nature of black hole candidates using iron line reverberation mapping in the CPR framework
• Testing General Relativity with black hole X-ray data: a progress report
• Formation of Black Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• Note on the Cardoso-Pani-Rico parametrization to test the Kerr black hole hypothesis
• The spins of the Galactic black holes in MAXI J1535-571 and 4U 1630-472 from Insight-HXMT
• On the Spin of the Black Hole in IC 10 X-1
• Spectral and Timing Properties of IGR J17091-3624 in the Rising Hard State During its 2016 Outburst
• On Spin Dependence of the Fundamental Plane of Black Hole Activity
• Insight-HXMT Study of the Inner Accretion Disk in the Black Hole Candidate EXO 1846--031
• Broadband 'spectro-temporal' features of extragalactic black hole binaries LMC X-1 and LMC X-3: An AstroSat perspective
• NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of the 2015 outburst decay of GX 339-4
• New method for black-hole spin measurement based on flux variation from an infalling gas ring
• Black holes: Timing and spectral properties and evolution
• AstroSat and MAXI view of Cygnus X-1: Signature of an `extreme' soft nature
• The Wolf-Rayet + Black Hole Binary NGC 300 X-1: What is the Mass of the Black Hole?
• The stringent upper limit on jet power in the persistent soft state source 4U~1957+11
• Black hole spin inferred from 3:2 epicyclic resonance model of high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations
• A tilted and warped inner accretion disc around a spinning black hole: an analytical solution
• GRS 1739-278 observed at very low luminosity with XMM-Newton and NuSTAR
• Localization of Compact Binary Sources with Second Generation Gravitational-wave Interferometer Networks
• Electromagnetic vs. Lense-Thirring alignment of black hole accretion discs
• Singularity-free black holes in conformal gravity: new observational constraints
• Testing relativistic reflection models with GRMHD simulations of accreting black holes
• Energy Extraction from Spinning Black Holes via Relativistic Jets
• Crossing the Eddington limit: examining disk spectra at high accretion rates
• Kerr-Taub-NUT spacetime to explain the jet power and the radiative efficiency of astrophysical black holes
• Spin gauge symmetry in the action principle for classical relativistic particles
• State Transitions of GRS 1739$-$278 in the 2014 Outburst
• A method to constrain mass and spin of GRB black hole within the NDAF model
• The evolutions of the innermost stable circular orbits in dynamical spacetimes
• A 2-hr binary period for the black hole transient MAXI J0637-430
• The peculiar spectral evolution of the new X-ray transient MAXI J0637-430
• A multi-wavelength study of the hard and soft states of MAXI J1820+070 during its 2018 outburst
• Constraints on Gamma-ray Burst Inner Engines in a Blandford-Znajek Framework
• Constraining black hole spins with low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in soft states
• The Polarization of X-rays from Warped Black Hole Accretion Disks
• Self-Gravity Effects of Ultralight Boson Clouds Formed by Black Hole Superradiance
• Accretion in active galactic nuclei and disk-jet coupling
• Accurate Treatment of Comptonization in X-ray Illuminated Accretion Disks
• Constraining distance and inclination angle of V4641 Sgr using $SWIFT$ and $NuSTAR$ observations during low soft spectral state
• Accreting Black Holes
• Reflection and timing study of the transient black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1803-298 with NuSTAR
• X-ray spectropolarimetric signature of a warped disk around a stellar-mass black hole
• The Meissner effect for weakly isolated horizons
• Getting More Out of Black Hole Superradiance: a Statistically Rigorous Approach to Ultralight Boson Constraints from Black Hole Spin Measurements
• Super-spinning compact objects and models of high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations observed in Galactic microquasars. II. Forced resonances
• Testing the Kerr metric using X-ray reflection spectroscopy: spectral analysis of GX 339-4
• A study of a tilted thin inner accretion disk around a spinning black hole
• XRB continuum fitting with sensitive high energy X-ray detectors
• Measuring Black Hole Spins through X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy and the Relativistic Precession Model: the case of XTE J1859+226
• Thermal spectra of thin accretion disks of finite thickness around Kerr black holes
• Two-dimensional Inflow-outflow Solution of Supercritical Accretion Flow
• Low Frequency Quasi Periodic Oscillations and Shocks in Accretion onto Black Hole
• X-ray Spectral Analysis of the Steady States of GRS 1915+105
• Co-precession of a curved jet and compact accretion disk in M87
• Advective accretion flow properties around rotating black holes - application to GRO J1655-40
• The appearance of a merging binary black hole very close to a spinning supermassive black hole
• A retrograde spin of the black hole in MAXI J1659--152
• Proof of principle X-ray reflection mass measurement of the black hole in H1743-322
• NICER and Swift/XRT monitoring of the 2023 outburst of Swift J1727.7-1613
• Impact of higher harmonics of gravitational radiation on the population inference of binary black holes
• Alignment and precession of a black hole misaligned with its accretion disc: Application to Low Mass X-ray Binaries
• Nuclear Ignition of White Dwarf Stars by Relativistic Encounters with Rotating Intermediate Mass Black Holes
• Retrieving the True Masses of Gravitational-wave Sources
• Phase-Transition Theory of Kerr Black Holes in Electromagnetic Field
• Testing Gravity with Black Hole X-Ray Data
• Formation of Wind-Fed Black Hole High-mass X-ray Binaries: The Role of Roche-lobe-Overflow Post Black-Hole Formation
• The plunging region of a thin accretion disc around a Schwarzschild black hole
• A Spectroscopic Angle on Central Engine Size Scales in Accreting Neutron Stars
• Exploring higher order images with Fe K_α-lines from relativistic disks: black hole spin determination and bias
• Spectra of Puffy Accretion Discs: the kynbb Fit
• A rapid black hole spin or emission from the plunging region?
• The spin measurement of MAXI J1348-630 using the Insight-HXMT data
• Attempt to explain black hole spin in X-ray binaries with new physics
• Properties of Ultralight Bosons from Spins of Heavy Quasars via Superradiance
• About the accuracy of the relxill/relxill_nk models in view of the next generation of X-ray missions
• The Aretakis constants and instability in general spherically symmetric extremal black hole spacetimes: higher multipole modes, late-time tails, and geometrical meanings
• Clockwise evolution in the hardness-intensity diagram of the black hole X-ray binary Swift J1910.2-0546
• Magnetised Accretion Discs in Kerr Spacetimes II: Hot Spots
• Rossby Wave Instability and High-Frequency Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in accretion discs orbiting around black holes
• Testing theories of accretion and gravity with super-extremal Kerr discs
• Observed jet power and radiative efficiency of black hole candidates in Kerr + PFDM model
• Measuring black hole spins with x-ray reflection spectroscopy: A GRMHD outlook
• The Disk Veiling Effect of the Black Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binary A0620-00
• Optimizing the low-latency localization of gravitational waves
• Stellar-Mass Black Holes
• Testing General Relativity with Black Hole X-ray Data
• Tests of General Relativity using black hole X-ray data
• Black hole spin estimation of XTE J2012+381 using simultaneous observations of Swift/XRT and NuSTAR
• A study for testing the Kerr metric with AGN iron line eclipses
• Boson Cloud Atlas: Direct mass measurements of superradiance clouds near black holes
• Accretion in Radiative Equipartition (AiRE) Disks
• Accretion Geometry of Black Hole X-ray Binaries: Insights from X-ray Observations
• An apparent positive relation between spin and orbital angular momentum in X-ray binaries
• Geometry of isolated horizons
• Iron Line Tomography of General Relativistic Hydrodynamic Accretion around Kerr Black Holes
• Testing General Relativity with Black Holes
• Thin Accretion Disks around Rotating Charged Black Holes in an Effective Higher-Curvature Spacetime
• On the Theoretical Framework of Magnetized Outflows from Stellar-Mass Black Holes and Related Observations
• Relativistic Thermal Emission from Accretion Disks in Kerr-MOG Spacetimes
• Multi-mission view of extragalactic black hole X-ray binaries LMC X-1 and LMC X-3: evolution of broadband spectral features
• A Revised Spin of the Black Hole in GRS 1716-249 with a New Distance
• Spectral Analysis of New Black Hole Candidate AT2019wey Observed by NuSTAR
• Using Simulations of Black Holes to Study General Relativity and the Properties of Inner Accretion Flow
• Probing the Black Hole Engine with Measurements of the Relativistic X-ray Reflection Component