Astrometry of variable compact radio sources: A search for Galactic black hole X-ray binaries

Abstract

We use the Very Long Baseline Array to conduct high precision astrometry of a sample of 33 compact, flat spectrum, variable radio sources in the direction of the Galactic plane (Becker et al. 2010). Although Becker et al. (2010) ruled out a few potential scenarios for the origin of the radio emission, the study could not rule out that these sources were black hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs). Most known BHXBs are first detected by X-ray or optical emission when they go into an outburst, leaving the larger quiescent BHXB population undiscovered. In this paper, we attempt to identify any Galactic sources amongst the Becker et al. (2010) sample by measuring their proper motions as a first step to finding quiescent BHXB candidates. Amongst the 33 targets, we could measure the proper motion of six sources. We find that G32.7193$-$0.6477 is a Galactic source and are able to constrain the parallax of this source with a 3$\sigma$ significance. We found three strong Galactic candidates, G32.5898$-$0.4468, G29.1075$-$0.1546, and G31.1494$-$0.1727, based purely on their proper motions, and suggest that G29.1075$-$0.1546, is also likely Galactic. We detected two resolved targets for multiple epochs (G30.1038+0.3984 and G29.7161$-$0.3178). We find six targets are only detected in one epoch and have an extended structure. We cross-match our VLBA detections with the currently available optical, infrared and X-ray surveys, and did not find any potential matches. We did not detect 19 targets in any VLBA epochs and suggest that this could be due to limited $uv$-coverage, drastic radio variability or faint, extended nature of the sources.

arXiv comment18 pages, 7 figures, Accepted in MNRAS

References in corpus (61)

• Gaia Data Release 2. Summary of the contents and survey properties
• The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)
• GLIMPSE: I. A SIRTF Legacy Project to Map the Inner Galaxy
• A 3D Dust Map Based on Gaia, Pan-STARRS 1 and 2MASS
• An online repository of Swift/XRT light curves of GRBs
• The UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey
• DiFX2: A more flexible, efficient, robust and powerful software correlator
• Powerful jets from black hole X-ray binaries in Low/Hard X-ray states
• BlackCAT: A catalogue of stellar-mass black holes in X-ray transients
• WATCHDOG: A Comprehensive All-Sky Database of Galactic Black Hole X-ray Binaries
• Discovery of a Candidate Black Hole - Giant Star Binary System in the Galactic Field
• The Optical-Infrared Extinction Curve and its Variation in the Milky Way
• A detached stellar-mass black hole candidate in the globular cluster NGC 3201
• Spectral properties of 441 radio pulsars
• Gaia Early Data Release 3: Summary of the contents and survey properties
• The observed velocity distribution of young pulsars
• VLBA determination of the distance to nearby star-forming regions I. The distance to T Tauri with 0.4% accuracy
• The Co-ordinated Radio and Infrared Survey for High-Mass Star Formation - II. Source Catalogue
• Discovery of a radio emitting neutron star with an ultra-long spin period of 76 seconds
• A stellar census in globular clusters with MUSE: Binaries in NGC 3201
• The Galactic Population of Low- and Intermediate-Mass X-ray Binaries
• A high-velocity black hole on a Galactic-halo orbit in the solar neighborhood
• Natal Kicks of Stellar-Mass Black Holes by Asymmetric Mass Ejection in Fallback Supernovae
• Potential Kick Velocity distribution of black hole X-ray binaries and implications for natal kicks
• The dynamical M/L-profile and distance of the globular cluster M15
• Astrometric accuracy of phase-referenced observations with the VLBA and EVN
• The XMM-Newton/Chandra monitoring campaign of the Galactic center region: Description of the program and preliminary results
• Is HR 6819 a triple system containing a black hole? -- An alternative explanation
• Hard state neutron star and black hole X-ray binaries in the radio:X-ray luminosity plane
• A naked-eye triple system with a nonaccreting black hole in the inner binary
• The Galactic Bulge Survey: outline and X-ray observations
• Not so fast: LB-1 is unlikely to contain a 70 $M_{\odot }$ black hole
• Completeness of the Gaia-verse II: what are the odds that a star is missing from Gaia DR2?
• The Gaia reference frame for bright sources examined using VLBI observations of radio stars
• Ultra-high-time Resolution Observations of Radio Bursts on AD Leonis
• Kinematics of Black Hole X-ray Binary GRS 1915+105
• Using radio emission to detect isolated and quiescent accreting black holes
• The Maveric Survey: a Red Straggler Binary with an Invisible Companion in the Galactic Globular Cluster M10
• The first low-mass black hole X-ray binary identified in quiescence outside of a globular cluster
• GLOSTAR -- Radio Source Catalog I: $28^{\circ }<\text{l}<36^{\circ }$ and $|b|<1^{\circ }$
• Weighing in on black hole binaries with BPASS: LB-1 does not contain a 70M${}_{\odot }$ black hole
• Continuum sources from the THOR survey between 1 and 2 GHz
• Optical Properties of faint FIRST Variable Radio Sources
• Infrared-Faint Radio Sources: A New Population of High-redshift Radio Galaxies
• Radio continuum emission in the northern Galactic plane: Sources and spectral indices from the THOR survey
• The observed mass distribution of Galactic black hole LMXBs is biased against massive black holes
• The Swift Bulge Survey: Motivation, Strategy, and First X-ray Results
• Variable Radio Sources in the Galactic Plane
• Hibernating black holes revealed by photometric mass functions
• Up and Down the Black Hole Radio/X-ray Correlation: the 2017 mini-outbursts from Swift J1753.5-0127
• A Sample of Candidate Radio Stars in FIRST and SDSS
• The MAVERIC survey: A transitional millisecond pulsar candidate in Terzan 5
• Response to Comment on "A Non-Interacting Low-Mass Black Hole -- Giant Star Binary System"
• The Swift Bulge Survey: optical and near-IR follow-up featuring a likely symbiotic X-ray binary & a focused wind CV
• Precision astrometry of pulsars and other compact radio sources in the globular cluster M15
• Selection Effects on the Orbital Period Distribution of Low Mass Black Hole X-ray Binaries
• A strategy to search for an inner binary black hole from the motion of the tertiary star
• A Search for Pulsars in Steep Spectrum Radio Sources
• A feasibility study on the photometric detection of quiescent black hole X-ray binaries
• Toward a Larger Sample of Radio Jets from Quiescent Black Hole X-ray Binaries
• Structural and spectral properties of Galactic plane variable radio sources