On the Spin of the Black Hole in IC 10 X-1

Abstract

The compact X-ray source in the eclipsing X-ray binary IC 10 X-1 has reigned for years as ostensibly the most massive stellar-mass black hole, with a mass estimated to be about twice that of its closest rival. However, striking results presented recently by Laycock et al. reveal that the mass estimate, based on emission-line velocities, is unreliable and that the mass of the X-ray source is essentially unconstrained. Using Chandra and NuSTAR data, we rule against a neutron-star model and conclude that IC 10 X-1 contains a black hole. The eclipse duration of IC 10 X-1 is shorter and its depth shallower at higher energies, an effect consistent with the X-ray emission being obscured during eclipse by a Compton-thick core of a dense wind. The spectrum is strongly disk-dominated, which allows us to constrain the spin of the black hole via X-ray continuum fitting. Three other wind-fed black-hole systems are known; the masses and spins of their black holes are high: M ~ 10-15 Msun and a*>0.8. If the mass of IC 10 X-1's black hole is comparable, then its spin is likewise high.

27 manuscript pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, submitted to ApJ

References in corpus (18)

• Physical Properties of Wolf-Rayet Stars
• Calibration of the NuSTAR High Energy Focusing X-ray Telescope
• A 15.65 solar mass black hole in an eclipsing binary in the nearby spiral galaxy Messier 33
• Evaluating Spectral Models and the X-ray States of Neutron-Star X-ray Transients
• X-ray Reflection Spectroscopy of the Black Hole GX 339-4: Exploring the Hard State with Unprecedented Sensitivity
• On IC 10 X-1, the Most Massive Known Stellar-Mass Black Hole
• A Grid of Relativistic, non-LTE Accretion Disk Models for Spectral Fitting of Black Hole Binaries
• The Origin of Black Hole Spin in Galactic Low-Mass X-ray Binaries
• The Orbital Period of the Wolf-Rayet Binary IC 10 X-1; Dynamic Evidence that the Compact Object is a Black Hole
• RXTE observations of the first transient Z source XTE J1701-462: shedding new light on mass accretion in luminous neutron star LMXBs
• Constraints on Core Collapse from the Black Hole Mass Function
• Spectroscopy of two PN candidates in IC10
• Revisiting the Dynamical Case for a Massive Black Hole in IC10 X-1
• Type I X-ray Bursts from the Neutron-star Transient XTE J1701-462
• On the distance and reddening of the starburst galaxy IC10
• Chandra and XMM Monitoring of the Black Hole X-ray Binary IC 10 X-1
• A Study of the Evolution of the Close Binaries Cyg X-3, IC 10 X-1, NGC 300 X-1, SS 433, and M33 X-7 Using the "Scenario Machine"
• Faint arc-minute extended radio emission around Cygnus X-3

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Testing black hole candidates with electromagnetic radiation
• Observational Constraints on Black Hole Spin
• A Systematic View of Ten New Black Hole Spins
• Re-estimating the Spin Parameter of the Black Hole in Cygnus X-1
• Estimating the black hole spin for the X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070
• Near-IR and X-ray Variability of Cyg X-3: Evidence for a Compact IR Source and Complex Wind Structures
• Two eclipsing ultraluminous X-ray sources in M 51
• Stable mass transfer can explain massive binary black hole mergers with a high spin component
• CG X-1: an eclipsing Wolf-Rayet ULX in the Circinus galaxy
• Paving the way to simultaneous multi-wavelength astronomy
• Wolf-Rayet stars, black holes and the first detected gravitational wave source
• Blue Supergiant X-ray Binaries in the Nearby Dwarf Galaxy IC 10
• Constraints on the number of X-ray Pulsars in IC 10 from a deep XMM-Newton Observation
• An apparent positive relation between spin and orbital angular momentum in X-ray binaries
• Diagnosing the Properties and Evolutionary Fates of Black Hole and Wolf-Rayet X-ray Binaries as Potential Gravitational Wave Sources for the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Network