Evidence for the Black Hole Event Horizon

Abstract

Roughly a dozen X-ray binaries are presently known in which the compact accreting primary stars are too massive to be neutron stars. These primaries are identified as black holes, though there is as yet no definite proof that any of the candidate black holes actually possesses an event horizon. We discuss how Type I X-ray bursts may be used to verify the presence of the event horizon in these objects. Type I bursts are caused by thermonuclear explosions when gas accretes onto a compact star. The bursts are commonly seen in many neutron star X-ray binaries, but they have never been seen in any black hole X-ray binary. Our model calculations indicate that black hole candidates ought to burst frequently if they have surfaces. Based on this, we argue that the lack of bursts constitutes strong evidence for the presence of event horizons in these objects.

10 pages, 1 figure; Invited contribution to the Coral Gables Conference on High Energy Physics and Cosmology, December, 2001 (eds. B. Kursunoglu and A. Perlmutter; American Institute of Physics Conference Proceedings). After it is published, it will be found at http://proceedings.aip.org/proceedings/