An updated gamma-ray analysis of the Be-BH binary HD~215227

Abstract

We report an updated analysis of the gamma-ray source AGL J2241+4454 that was detected as a brief two-day flare in 2010 by the AGILE satellite. The high-energy emission of AGL J2241+4454 has been attributed to the binary system HD 215227, which consists of a Be star being orbited by a black hole making it the first known Be-black hole binary system. We have analyzed the AGILE data and find a gamma-ray flux of $(1.8\pm 0.7)\times 10^{-6}$ ph cm${}^{-2}$ s${}^{-1}$, in agreement with the initial report. Additionally, we examined data from the Fermi LAT over several time intervals including the two day flare, the folded orbital phase, and the entire mission ($\sim$6-years). We do not detect AGL J2241+4454 over any of these time periods with Fermi and find upper limits of $1.1\times 10^{-7}$ ph cm${}^{-2}$ s${}^{-1}$ and $5.2\times 10^{-10}$ ph cm${}^{-2}$ s${}^{-1}$ for the flare and the full mission, respectively. We conclude that the HD 215227 Be-black hole binary is not a true gamma-ray binary as previous speculated. While analyzing the Fermi data of the AGL J2241+4454 region, we discovered a previously unknown gamma-ray source with average flux of $(13.56\pm 0.02)\times 10^{-8}$ ph cm${}^{-2}$ s${}^{-1}$ that is highly variable on monthly timescales. We associate this emission with the known quasar 87GB 215950.2+503417.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in MNRAS, 10 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• The First Simultaneous X-Ray/Radio Detection of the First Be/BH System MWC 656
• The X-ray emission of Be+stripped star binaries
• MWC 656 is unlikely to contain a black hole
• The gamma-ray source AGL J2241+4454 as the possible counterpart of MWC 656
• Ultraviolet spectroscopy reveals a hot and luminous companion to the Be star+black hole candidate MWC 656