A high-velocity black hole on a Galactic-halo orbit in the solar neighborhood

Abstract

Only a few of the dozen or so stellar-mass black holes have been observed away from the plane of the Galaxy${}^1$. Those few could have been ejected from the plane as a result of a ``kick'' received during a supernova explosion, or they could be remnants of the population of massive stars formed in the early stages of evolution of the Galaxy. Determining their orbital motion should help to distinguish between these options. Here we report the transverse motion (in the plane of the sky) for the black hole X-ray nova XTE J1118+480 (refs 2-5), from which we derive a large space velocity. This X-ray binary has an eccentric orbit around the Galactic Centre, like most objects in the halo of the Galaxy, such as ancient stars and globular clusters. The properties of the system suggest that its age is comparable to or greater than the age of the Galactic disk. Only an extraordinary ``kick'' from a supernova could have launched the black hole into an orbit like this from a birth place in the disk of the Galaxy.

8 pages including 2 color figures. Additional figures and animation in http://www.iafe.uba.ar/astronomia/FM/mirabel.html

References in corpus (11)

• Kinematics of Metal-Poor Stars in the Galaxy. III. Formation of the Stellar Halo and Thick Disk as Revealed from a Large Sample of Non-Kinematically Selected Stars
• Theoretical Black Hole Mass Distributions
• Fossil Signatures of Ancient Accretion Events in the Halo
• The X-ray transient XTE J1118+480: Multiwavelength observations of a low-state mini-outburst
• Complete and Simultaneous Spectral Observations of the Black-Hole X-ray Nova XTE J1118+480
• A Black Hole of > 6 Solar Masses in the X-ray Nova XTE J1118+480
• Millisecond Pulsar Velocities
• The Halo Black-Hole X-ray Transient XTE J1118+480
• Spectral evidence for a powerful compact jet from XTE J1118+480
• A measurement of the broad-band spectrum of XTE J1118+480 with BeppoSAX and its astrophysical implications
• Constraints on mass ejection in black hole formation, derived from black hole X-ray binaries

Cited by in corpus (108)

• The Second-Generation Guide Star Catalog: Description and Properties
• Stellar remnants in galactic nuclei: mass segregation
• Investigating stellar-mass black hole kicks
• The first accurate parallax distance to a black hole
• Natal Kicks of Stellar-Mass Black Holes by Asymmetric Mass Ejection in Fallback Supernovae
• Estimates of black-hole natal kick velocities from observations of low-mass X-ray binaries
• The radio/X-ray domain of black hole X-ray binaries at the lowest radio luminosities
• The X-ray Spectral Evolution of Galactic Black Hole X-ray Binaries Toward Quiescence
• Pre-supernova evolution, compact object masses and explosion properties of stripped binary stars
• Potential Kick Velocity distribution of black hole X-ray binaries and implications for natal kicks
• Understanding Compact Object Formation and Natal Kicks I. Calculation Methods and the case of GRO J1655-40
• X-Rays from Isolated Black Holes in the Milky Way
• Gaia DR2 Distances and Peculiar Velocities for Galactic Black Hole Transients
• Understanding Compact Object Formation and Natal Kicks: II. The case of XTE J1118+480
• Multiwavelength observations revealing the evolution of the outburst of the black hole XTE J1118+480
• Revising natal kick prescriptions in population synthesis simulations
• Understanding Compact Object Formation and Natal Kicks. III. The case of Cygnus X-1
• The spectral energy distribution of quiescent black hole X-ray binaries: new constraints from Spitzer
• Discovery of a Cosmological, Relativistic Outburst via its Rapidly Fading Optical Emission
• Precessing microblazars and unidentified gamma-ray sources
• LS 5039: a runaway microquasar ejected from the galactic plane
• Black Hole Astrophysics in AdS Braneworlds
• Black Hole Spin-Orbit Misalignment in Galactic X-ray Binaries
• The runaway black hole GRO J1655-40
• X-ray Binaries
• Detection of superhumps in XTE J1118+480 approaching quiescence
• Evidence for quiescent synchrotron emission in the black hole X-ray transient Swift J1357.2-0933
• Formation channels of single and binary stellar-mass black holes
• Has the black hole in XTE J1118+480 experienced an asymmetric natal kick?
• The radio spectrum of a quiescent stellar mass black hole
• Radio monitoring of the hard state jets in the 2011 outburst of MAXI J1836-194
• MMT Observations of the Black Hole Candidate XTE J1118+480 near and in Quiescence
• The Formation of Stellar Black Holes
• Kinematics of Black Hole X-ray Binary GRS 1915+105
• An accurate position for the black hole candidate XTE J1752-223: re-interpretation of the VLBI data
• Using radio emission to detect isolated and quiescent accreting black holes
• Chemical Abundances of the Secondary Star in the Black Hole X-ray Binary XTE J1118+480
• A deep radio survey of hard state and quiescent black hole X-ray binaries
• The fast spiral-in of the companion star to the black hole XTE J1118+480
• XTE J1118+480: A Metal-Rich Black Hole Binary in the Galactic Halo
• A Fossil Bulge Globular Cluster revealed by VLT Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics
• The low or retrograde spin of the first extragalactic microquasar: implications for Blandford-Znajek powering of jets
• Spin it as you like: the (lack of a) measurement of the spin tilt distribution with LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA binary black holes
• The formation of the black hole in the X-ray binary system V404 Cyg
• Combined Spectral and Timing Analysis of the Black Hole Candidate MAXI J1659-152 Discovered by MAXI and Swift
• GW150914-like Black Holes as Galactic High-Energy Sources
• Chemical Abundances of the Secondary Star in the Black Hole X-Ray Binary V404 Cygni
• Zooming in on a sleeping giant: milliarcsecond HSA imaging of the black hole binary V404 Cyg in quiescence
• The 2005 outburst of the halo black hole X-ray transient XTE J1118+480
• SWIFT J1910.2-0546: A possible black hole binary with a retrograde spin or truncated disk
• Very High Angular Resolution Science with the Square Kilometre Array
• Evidence for mass-dependent peculiar velocities in compact object binaries: Towards better constraints on natal kicks
• Faint objects in motion: the new frontier of high precision astrometry
• Spectral and Temporal Behavior of the Black Hole Candidate XTE J1118+480 as Observed with BeppoSAX
• Discovery of 59ms Pulsations from 1RXS J141256.0+792204 (Calvera)
• VLT spectroscopy of the Black Hole Candidate Swift J1357.2-0933 in Quiescence
• Constraints on Braneworld Gravity Models from a Kinematic Limit on the Age of the Black Hole XTE J1118+480
• Blazing trails: Microquasars as head-tail sources and the seeding of magnetized plasma into the ISM
• Estimating the contribution of Galactic sources to the diffuse neutrino flux
• A microquasar shot out from its birth place
• Dynamical confirmation of a stellar-mass black hole in the transient X-ray dipping binary MAXI J1305-704
• Low-mass X-ray binaries from black-hole retaining globular clusters
• Astrometric observations of X-ray binaries using very long baseline interferometry
• Resolved Jets and Long-Period Black Hole X-ray Novae
• On the origin of LS 5039 and PSR J1825-1446
• VLBI observations of the shortest orbital period black hole binary, MAXI J1659-152
• A long-term optical - X-ray correlation in 4U 1957+11
• New clues on outburst mechanisms and improved spectroscopic elements of the black-hole binary V4641 Sagittarii
• Orbital period dependent spatial scatter of Galactic Black Hole Transients
• Jet trails and Mach cones: The interaction of microquasars with the ISM
• Finding Black Holes with Black Boxes -- Using Machine Learning to Identify Globular Clusters with Black Hole Subsystems
• Dark matter and dark energy accretion onto intermediate-mass black holes
• The origin of Scorpius X-1
• Biases in estimates of black hole kicks from the spin distribution of binary black holes
• Nova Sco and coalescing low mass black hole binaries as LIGO sources
• On the kinematics of the neutron star low mass X-ray binary Cen X-4
• A Black Hole Kicked At Birth: MAXI J1305-704
• Approximately stealth black hole in higher-order scalar-tensor theories
• Probing isolated compact remnants with microlensing
• LMC X-1: A New Spectral Analysis of the O-star in the binary and surrounding nebula
• The first near infrared detection of XTE J1118+480 in quiescence
• Unidentified gamma-ray sources off the Galactic plane as low-mass microquasars?
• Unraveling the Formation History of the Black Hole X-ray Binary LMC X-3 from ZAMS to Present
• The long-term optical evolution of the black hole candidate MAXI J1659-152
• Compact Objects in close orbits as Gravitational Wave Sources: Formation Scenarios and Properties
• Radio emission and jets from microquasars
• Microquasars: summary and outlook
• Optical polarization signatures of black hole X-ray binaries
• On the nature of the AGILE galactic transient sources
• On the possible generation of the young massive open clusters Stephenson2 and BDSB122 by Omega Centauri
• Jet-dominated quiescent state in black hole X-ray binaries: the cases of A0620--00 and XTE J1118+480
• Infrared interferometry to spatially and spectrally resolve jets in X-ray binaries
• Black Hole High Mass X-ray Binary Microquasars at Cosmic Dawn
• On the Formation of GW190521-like Binary Black Hole Merger Systems
• Models for gamma-ray production in low-mass microquasars
• Black holes formed by direct collapse: observational evidences
• High-resolution radio observations of X-ray binaries
• Black holes: from stars to galaxies
• Single and binary Black Holes and their active environment
• Optical/IR counterpart to the resolved X-ray jet source CXO J172337.5-373442 and its distance
• Hints of Dark Matter Spikes in Low-mass X-ray Binaries: a critical assessment
• Is KT Mon a Classical Nova?
• A comprehensive search for high-velocity X-ray sources: New compact object binary candidates in the Gaia era
• On Neutron Star Natal Kicks in High-Mass X-Ray Binaries: Insights from Population Synthesis
• Astrometry of variable compact radio sources: A search for Galactic black hole X-ray binaries
• The Early History of Microquasar Research
• Stellar black holes: cosmic history and feedback at the dawn of the universe
• Constraining Black Hole Natal Kicks with Astrometric Microlensing