Mass Measurements of Stellar and Intermediate Mass Black-Holes

Abstract

We discuss the method, and potential systematic effects therein, used for measuring the mass of stellar-mass black holes in X-ray binaries. We restrict our discussion to the method that relies on the validity of Kepler's laws; we refer to this method as the dynamical method. We briefly discuss the implications of the mass distribution of stellar-mass black holes and provide an outlook for future measurements. Further, we investigate the evidence for the existence of intermediate-mass black holes i.e. black holes with masses above 100 Msun, the limit to the black hole mass that can be produced by stellar evolution in the current Universe.

28 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews (DOI 10.1007/s11214-013-0030-6). Also to appear in hard cover in the Space Sciences Series of ISSI "The Physics of Accretion onto Black Holes" (Springer Publisher). Replaced with a new version including a new Fig.1, fixed two references, some typos and minor style changes

References in corpus (22)

• X-ray Properties of Black-Hole Binaries
• Effect of Primordial Black Holes on the Cosmic Microwave Background and Cosmological Parameter Estimates
• A New Sample of Low-mass Black Holes in Active Galaxies
• ULTRACAM: an ultra-fast, triple-beam CCD camera for high-speed astrophysics
• A 15.65 solar mass black hole in an eclipsing binary in the nearby spiral galaxy Messier 33
• On IC 10 X-1, the Most Massive Known Stellar-Mass Black Hole
• On the masses and evolutionary status of the black hole binary GX 339-4. A twin system of XTE J1550-564?
• Populating the Galaxy with low-mass X-ray binaries
• A Black Hole Nova Obscured by an Inner Disk Torus
• Radio Emission from the Intermediate-mass Black Hole in the Globular Cluster G1
• The origin and fate of short-period low-mass black-hole binaries
• X-rays from the Globular Cluster G1: Intermediate Mass Black Hole or Low Mass X-ray Binary?
• M 33 X-7: ChASeM33 reveals the first eclipsing black hole X-ray binary
• Irradiation models for ULXs and fits to optical data
• The Eccentric Accretion Disc of the Black Hole A0620-00
• New Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the counterparts to six ultraluminous X-ray sources
• Chemical Abundances of the Secondary Star in the Black Hole X-ray Binary XTE J1118+480
• The Black Hole Binary Nova Scorpii 1994 (GRO J1655-40): An improved chemical analysis
• Keck Infrared Observations of GRO J0422+32 in Quiescence
• Echoes from the companion star in Sco X-1
• The mass of the black hole in LMC X-3
• Bowen blend echo-tomography of low mass X-ray binaries

Cited by in corpus (178)

• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• GW151226: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a 22-Solar-Mass Binary Black Hole Coalescence
• GWTC-3: Compact Binary Coalescences Observed by LIGO and Virgo During the Second Part of the Third Observing Run
• Binary Black Hole Mergers in the first Advanced LIGO Observing Run
• Properties of the Binary Black Hole Merger GW150914
• BlackCAT: A catalogue of stellar-mass black holes in X-ray transients
• Very massive stars, pair-instability supernovae and intermediate-mass black holes with the SEVN code
• Testing black hole candidates with electromagnetic radiation
• Cygnus X-1 contains a 21-solar mass black hole -- implications for massive star winds
• The spin of the second-born black hole in coalescing binary black holes
• Black Hole Parameter Estimation from Its Shadow
• Phenomenological aspects of black holes beyond general relativity
• Geometrical constraints on the origin of timing signals from black holes
• The Kerr Metric
• It has to be cool: on supergiant progenitors of binary black hole mergers from common-envelope evolution
• Regulation of black-hole accretion by a disk wind during a violent outburst of V404 Cygni
• Accretion disc atmospheres and winds in low-mass X-ray binaries
• Numerical Relativity and Astrophysics
• Constraining the masses of microlensing black holes and the mass gap with Gaia DR2
• Distinguishing Primordial Black Holes from Astrophysical Black Holes by Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer
• Gaia DR2 Distances and Peculiar Velocities for Galactic Black Hole Transients
• The Analogous Structure of Accretion Flows in Supermassive and Stellar Mass Black Holes: New Insights from Faded Changing-Look Quasars
• Astrophysical Black Holes: A Compact Pedagogical Review
• The binary mass ratio in the black hole transient MAXI J1820+070
• The Black Hole Mass Function from Gravitational Wave Measurements
• Properties of OB star-black hole systems derived from detailed binary evolution models
• Intermediate Mass Black Hole Formation in compact Young Massive Star Clusters
• Dynamical confirmation of a black hole in MAXI J1820+070
• Cosmological Simulations of Early Blackhole Formation: Halo Mergers, Tidal Disruption, and the Conditions for Direct Collapse
• Constraining the formation of black-holes in short-period Black-Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• PRECESSION: Dynamics of spinning black-hole binaries with python
• Search for ultralight bosons in Cygnus X-1 with Advanced LIGO
• Synthetic catalog of black holes in the Milky Way
• X-ray Binaries
• An Iron K Component to the Ultrafast Outflow in NGC 1313 X-1
• High Resolution Chandra HETG spectroscopy of V404 Cygni in Outburst
• Identifying quiescent compact objects in massive Galactic single-lined spectroscopic binaries
• Radiation hydrodynamics simulations of the formation of direct-collapse supermassive stellar systems
• Apples and Oranges: Comparing black holes in X-ray binaries and gravitational-wave sources
• Furiously Fast and Red: Sub-second Optical Flaring in V404 Cyg during the 2015 Outburst Peak
• Multi-mode black hole spectroscopy
• Importance of transient resonances in extreme-mass-ratio inspirals
• Revealing the structure of the outer disks of Be stars
• The merger history of primordial-black-hole binaries
• A FWHM-K2 correlation in Black-Hole transients
• The Formation of a 70 Msun Black Hole at High Metallicity
• A Search for Stellar-Mass Black Holes via Astrometric Microlensing
• Swift J1357.2-0933: a massive black hole in the Galactic thick disc
• Gravitational Wave Astronomy With TianQin
• Keck/MOSFIRE spectroscopy of five ULX counterparts
• Black hole mass and spin measurements through the Relativistic Precession Model: XTE J1859+226
• The low-luminosity accretion disc wind of the black hole transient V4641 Sagittarii
• Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• Population Synthesis of Black Hole Binaries with Normal-Star Companions: I. Detached Systems
• Gravitational and electromagnetic radiation from binary black holes with electric and magnetic charges: Circular orbits on a cone
• Revisiting the Dynamical Case for a Massive Black Hole in IC10 X-1
• The Mass of the Black Hole in the X-ray Binary Nova Muscae 1991
• Cygnus X-3 revealed as a Galactic ultraluminous X-ray source by IXPE
• Mass ratio determination from Halpha lines in Black-Hole X-ray transients
• A dichotomy between the hard state spectral properties of black hole and neutron star X-ray~binaries
• Flares, wind and nebulae: the 2015 December mini-outburst of V404 Cygni
• High ionisation absorption in low mass X-ray binaries
• Measuring eccentricity of binary black holes in GWTC-1 by using inspiral-only waveform
• Population Synthesis of Black Hole X-Ray Binaries
• The balance of power: accretion and feedback in stellar mass black holes
• An X-ray reverberation mass measurement of Cygnus X-1
• The 1989 and 2015 outbursts of V404 Cygni: a global study of wind-related optical features
• Constraints on Primordial-black-hole Population and Cosmic Expansion History from GWTC-3
• It's written in the massive stars: The role of stellar physics in the formation of black holes
• On the Formation of Galactic Black Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• The observed mass distribution of Galactic black hole LMXBs is biased against massive black holes
• Modeling bias in supermassive black hole spin measurements
• Hard-state optical wind during the discovery outburst of the black-hole X-ray dipper MAXI J1803-298
• Where intermediate-mass black holes could hide in the Galactic Centre: A full parameter study with the S2 orbit
• Multiwavelength observations of the black hole X-ray binary A0620-00 in quiescence
• Accretion and Outflow in V404 Cyg
• Fast Radio Bursts From Primordial Black Hole Binaries Coalescence
• Dynamical confirmation of a black hole in the X-ray transient Swift J1727.8-1613
• The radio/X-ray correlation in Cyg X-3 and the nature of its hard spectral state
• Hot, dense He II outflows during the 2017 outburst of the X-ray transient Swift J1357.2-0933
• The INTEGRAL view on Black Hole X-ray Binaries
• The luminosity dependence of thermally-driven disc winds in low-mass X-ray binaries
• A Method to Search for Black Hole Candidates with Giant Companions by LAMOST
• Inspiral of a Spinning Black Hole--Magnetized Neutron Star Binary: Increasing Charge and Electromagnetic Emission
• High-precision optical polarimetry of the accreting black hole V404 Cyg during the June 2015 outburst
• Unequal-mass, highly-spinning binary black hole mergers in the stable mass transfer formation channel
• Astrometric excess noise in Gaia DR2 and the search for X-ray emitting binaries
• Expanding hot flow in the black hole binary SWIFT J1753.5-0127: evidence from optical timing
• Hibernating black holes revealed by photometric mass functions
• The Changing-look Optical Wind of the Flaring X-ray Transient Swift J1858.6-0814
• Astrometric excess noise in Gaia EDR3 and the search for X-ray binaries
• Mass constraints to Sco X-1 from Bowen flourescence and deep near-infrared spectroscopy
• Low-mass X-ray binaries from black-hole retaining globular clusters
• Cosmological DCBH formation sites hostile for their growth
• Evaporating Primordial Black Holes in Gamma Ray and Neutrino Telescopes
• NIR Counterparts to ULXs (III): Completing the photometric survey and selected spectroscopic results
• No evidence for a low-mass black hole in Swift J1753.5-0127
• Suzaku spectroscopy of the neutron star transient 4U 1608-52 during its outburst decay
• Mining for Candidates of Galactic Stellar-mass Black Hole Binaries with LAMOST
• The complex evolution of the X-ray binary transient MAXI J1807+132 along the decay of its discovery outburst
• Formation of Black Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• Searching for Intermediate Mass Black Holes in galaxies with Low Luminosity AGN: A multiple-method approach
• Vector theory of gravity: Universe without black holes and solution of dark energy problem
• The spins of the Galactic black holes in MAXI J1535-571 and 4U 1630-472 from Insight-HXMT
• On the Neutron Star/Black Hole Mass Gap and Black Hole Searches
• Monotonicity of the cores of massive stars
• Testing Vector Gravity with Gravitational Wave Interferometers
• The impact of ionizing radiation on the formation of a supermassive star in the early Universe
• Demonstrating the likely neutron star nature of five M31 globular cluster sources with Swift-NuSTAR spectroscopy
• Polarized synchrotron emission in quiescent black hole X-ray transients
• Optical Precursors to Black Hole X-ray Binary Outbursts: An evolving synchrotron jet spectrum in Swift J1357.2-0933
• Fast orbital shrinkage of black hole X-ray binaries driven by circumbinary disks
• A correlation between Ha trough depth and inclination in quiescent X-ray transients: evidence for a low-mass black hole in GRO J0422+32
• Optical, J, and K light curves of XTE J1118+480 = KV UMa: the mass of the black hole and the spectrum of the non-stellar component
• Optical and J,K-photometry of black hole X-ray nova A0620-00 in passive and active stages of quiescence
• Compact Object Candidates with K/M-dwarf Companions from LAMOST Low-resolution Survey
• The mass of the black hole in 1A 0620-00, revisiting the ellipsoidal light curve modeling
• Dynamical formation of Black Hole Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries in the field - an alternative to common envelope
• Close Encounters of Tight Binary Stars with Stellar-mass Black Holes
• Prospecting Period Measurements with LSST - Low Mass X-ray Binaries as a Test Case
• Reprocessing model for the optical quasi-periodic oscillations in black hole binaries
• The Formation of Black Holes in Non-interacting, Isolated Binaries. Gaia Black Holes as Calibrators of Stellar Winds From Massive Stars
• Measuring masses in low mass X-ray binaries via X-ray spectroscopy: the case of MXB 1659-298
• Generation of gravitational waves and tidal disruptions in clumpy galaxies
• A Circumbinary Disk Model for the Rapid Orbital Shrinkage in Black Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• Constraining black hole spins with low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in soft states
• Discovery of Thermonuclear Type-I X-ray Bursts from the X-ray binary MAXI J1807+132
• Superhump period of the black hole X-ray binary GX 339-4
• Accreting Black Holes
• A feasibility study on the photometric detection of quiescent black hole X-ray binaries
• Catalog of outbursts of neutron star LMXBs
• Getting More Out of Black Hole Superradiance: a Statistically Rigorous Approach to Ultralight Boson Constraints from Black Hole Spin Measurements
• Multi-wavelength spectroscopy of the black hole candidate MAXI J1813-095 during its discovery outburst
• Short Gamma-Ray Bursts and Gravitational-Wave Observations from Eccentric Compact Binaries
• Quiescent NIR and optical counterparts to candidate black hole X-ray binaries
• Thermal spectra of thin accretion disks of finite thickness around Kerr black holes
• On the Possibility of Stellar Lenses in the Black Hole Candidate Microlensing Events MACHO-96-BLG-5 and MACHO-98-BLG-6
• GW170817 event rules out general relativity in favor of vector gravity
• Proof of principle X-ray reflection mass measurement of the black hole in H1743-322
• Dynamical Modeling of CXOGBS J175553.2-281633: A 10 Hour Long Orbital Period Cataclysmic Variable
• Bowen emission from Aquila X-1: evidence for multiple components and constraint on the accretion disc vertical structure
• Constraining the mass of accreting black holes in ultraluminous X-ray sources with ultrafast outflows
• Optical and Ultraviolet Monitoring of the Black Hole X-ray Binary MAXI J1820+070/ASASSN-18ey for 18 Months
• Dormant black hole candidates from Gaia DR3 summary diagnostics
• Simplified equations for gravitational field in the vector theory of gravity and new insights into dark energy
• Weighing stars from birth to death: mass determination methods across the HRD
• Accretion Properties and Estimation of Spin of Galactic Black Hole Candidate Swift J1728.9-3613 with NuSTAR during its 2019 outburst
• A possible formation scenario of the Gaia ID 3425577610762832384: inner binary merger inside a triple common envelope
• Searching for quantum-gravity footprint around stellar-mass black holes
• Spectroscopy using a visible photonic lantern at the Subaru telescope: Laboratory characterization and first on-sky demonstration on Ikiiki (α Leo) and `Aua (α Ori)
• Measuring interacting binary mass functions with X-ray fluorescence
• Observations of red giants with suspected massive companions
• Very-high-energy observations of the binaries V 404 Cyg and 4U 0115+634 during giant X-ray outbursts
• Rapid Spectral Parameter Prediction for Black Hole X-Ray Binaries using Physicalised Autoencoders
• Long Journey toward the Detection of Gravitational Waves and New Era of Gravitational Wave Astrophysics
• Stellar-Mass Black Holes
• The Disk Veiling Effect of the Black Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binary A0620-00
• X-ray linear polarization prediction in Black-Hole binaries and Active Galactic Nuclei and its measurements by IXPE
• Black holes will break up solitons and white holes may destroy them
• A tentative 114-minute orbital period challenges the ultra-compact nature of the X-ray binary 4U 1812-12
• Tests of General Relativity using black hole X-ray data
• Testing the presence of a dormant black hole inside HR 6819
• State transitions triggered by inverse magnetic field: probably applied in high-mass X-ray binaries?
• An apparent positive relation between spin and orbital angular momentum in X-ray binaries
• Leading-order gravitational time delay of massive particles by a moving Schwarzschild lens
• Boson Cloud Atlas: Direct mass measurements of superradiance clouds near black holes
• An infrared FWHM-$K_2$ correlation to uncover highly reddened quiescent black holes
• A Fundamental Plane in X-ray Binary Activity of External Galaxies
• Gaia20fnr: A binary-lens microlensing event with full orbital motion revealed by four space telescopes
• A search for optical counterparts in quiescent black hole X-ray transients
• A multi-wavelength study of GRS 1716-249 in outburst : constraints on its system parameters
• An Isolated Stellar-Mass Black Hole Detected Through Astrometric Microlensing
• Black holes
• Simulation-calibrated Bayesian inference for progenitor properties of the microquasar SS 433
• Testing General Relativity with Black Holes
• Where are Gaia's small black holes?
• Are There Pre-Main-Sequence/Black Hole X-ray Binaries?
• Ultra-High-Resolution Astronomy with the Solar Gravitational Lens