A FWHM-K2 correlation in Black-Hole transients

Abstract

We compare Halpha emission profiles of 12 dynamically confirmed black holes (BHs) and 2 neutron star X-ray transients (SXTs) in quiescence with those of a sample of 43 Cataclysmic Variables (CVs), also quiescent. The full-width-half maximum (FWHM) of the Halpha line in SXTs is tightly correlated with the velocity semi-amplitude of the donor star K2=0.233(13) FWHM. This new correlation, when combined with orbital periods (i.e. through photometric light curves), opens the possibility to estimate compact object mass functions from single integration, low-resolution spectroscopy. On the other hand, CVs above the period gap are found to follow a flatter correlation, a likely consequence of their larger mass ratios. We also find that the FWHM traces the disc velocity at ~42% R_L1, independently of binary mass ratio. In addition, for a given FWHM, BHs tend to have lower EWs than CVs. This might be explained by the fact that CVs must be seen at higher inclinations to mimic the same projected disc velocities as BH SXTs. For the same reason CVs with FWHM>~1500 km/s are mostly eclipsing while none of our sample BHs are. Further, we show that there is a vacant/unoccupied region for CVs in the FWHM-EW plane defined by FWHM > 2568 ( 1 - (9/EW)**2 )**0.5 (km/s). Both the FWHM-K2 correlation and the FWHM-EW plane can be exploited, together with photometric light curves, to efficiently discover quiescent BHs in deep Halpha surveys of the Galactic Plane.

Accepted for publication in ApJ, 6 figures, 4 Tables

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