English

Black Hole High Mass X-ray Binary Microquasars at Cosmic Dawn

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena 2020-02-19 v1

Abstract

Theoretical models and observations suggest that primordial Stellar Black Holes (Pop-III-BHs) were prolifically formed in HMXBs, which are powerful relativistic jet sources of synchrotron radiation called Microquasars (MQs). Large populations of BH-HMXB-MQs at cosmic dawn produce a smooth synchrotron cosmic radio background (CRB) that could account for the excess amplitude of atomic hydrogen absorption at z~17, recently reported by EDGES. BH-HMXB-MQs at cosmic dawn precede supernovae, neutron stars and dust. BH-HMXB-MQs promptly inject hard X-rays and relativistic jets into the IGM, which overtake the slower expanding HII regions ionized by progenitor Pop-III stars, heating and partially ionizing the IGM over larger distance scales. BH-HMXBs are channels for the formation of Binary-Black-Holes (BBHs). The large masses of BBHs detected by gravitational waves, relative to the masses of BHs detected by X-rays, and the high rates of BBH-mergers, are consistent with high formation rates of BH-HMXBs and BBHs in the early universe.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1902.00511,
  title  = {Black Hole High Mass X-ray Binary Microquasars at Cosmic Dawn},
  author = {I. F. Mirabel},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1902.00511},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

14 pages, 5 figures. Invited Review at the IAUS 346: High-mass X-ray binaries: illuminating the passage from massive binaries to merging compact objects

R2 v1 2026-06-23T07:29:46.771Z