Estimating the black hole spin for the X-ray binary MAXI J1820+070

Abstract

MAXI J1820+070 is a newly-discovered black hole X-ray binary, whose dynamical parameters, namely the black hole mass, the inclination angle and the source distance, have been estimated recently. \emph{Insight}-HXMT have observed its entire outburst from March 14th, 2018. In this work, we attempted to estimate the spin parameter~$a_{\ast }$, using the continuum-fitting method and applying a fully-relativistic thin disk model to the soft-state spectra obtained by \emph{Insight}-HXMT. It is well know that $a_{\ast }$ is strongly dependent on three dynamical parameters in this method, and we have examined two sets of parameters. Adopting our preferred parameters: $M$ = $8.48_{-0.72}^{+0.79}{M}_{\odot }$, $i=63^{\circ }\pm 3^{\circ }$ and $D=2.96\pm 0.33$ kpc, we found a slowly-spinning black hole of $a_{\ast }=0.14\pm 0.09$ ($1\ddot{I}ƒ$), which give a prograde spin parameter as majority of other systems show. While it is also possible for the black hole to have a retrograde spin (less than 0) if different dynamical parameters are taken.