Related papers: Response to Comment on "A Non-Interacting Low-Mass…
Massive stars at cosmological distances can be individually detected during transient microlensing events, when gravitational lensing magnifications may exceed ~1000. Nine such sources were identified in JWST NIRCam imaging of a single…
In LIGO's O1 and O2 observational runs, the detectors were sensitive to stellar mass binary black hole coalescences with component masses up to $100\,M_\odot$, with binaries with primary masses above $40\,M_\odot$ representing $\gtrsim90\%$…
We use dynamical mass measurements of 16 black holes in transient low-mass X-ray binaries to infer the stellar black hole mass distribution in the parent population. We find that the observations are best described by a narrow mass…
We suggest that high-mass black holes; i.e., black holes of several solar masses, can be formed in binaries with low-mass main-sequence companions, provided that the hydrogen envelope of the massive star is removed in common envelope…
We show that a common evolutionary history can produce the black hole binaries in the Galaxy in which the black holes have masses of ~ 5-10 M_sun. In with low-mass, <~ 2.5 M_sun, ZAMS (zero age main sequence) companions, the latter remain…
Ultra-luminous X-ray sources are extragalactic objects located outside the nucleus of the host galaxy with bolometric luminosities >10^39 erg s^-1. These extreme luminosities - if the emission is isotropic and below the theoretical (i.e.…
Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and their host galaxies are generally thought to coevolve, so that the SMBH achieves up to about 0.2 to 0.5% of the host galaxy mass in the present day. The radiation emitted from the growing SMBH is…
We consider black hole - galaxy coevolution using simple analytic arguments. We focus on the fact that several supermassive black holes are known with masses significantly larger than suggested by the $M - {\sigma}$ relation, sometimes also…
We consider the mass distribution of the nine unseen companions orbiting solar-type stars with minimum possible masses in the planetary mass range reported as of March 1998. We compare the mass distribution of these nine extrasolar planet…
We present a spectroscopic and photometric analysis of the remarkable massive binary system, BD +36 4063. We argue that the visible ON star is undergoing a rapid mass transfer episode that results in a thick and opaque disk that surrounds…
Theory and observations suggest that single-star evolution is not able to produce black holes (BHs) with masses in the range $3-5M_{\odot}$ and above $\sim 45M_{\odot}$, referred to as the lower mass gap (LMG) and the upper mas gap (UMG),…
We present the detection of a 2.0(+1.4,-0.8)x10^4 solar mass black hole (BH) in the stellar cluster G1 (Mayall II), based on data taken with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. G1 is one of the most…
Can one distinguish a binary black hole undergoing a merger from a binary neutron star if the individual compact companions have masses that fall inside the so-called mass gap of $3-5\ M_\odot$? For neutron stars, achieving such masses…
We combine Hubble Space Telescope images from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey with archival Very Large Telescope and Keck spectra of a sample of 11 X-ray selected broad-line active galactic nuclei in the redshift range 1<z<2 to…
We report the results from a pilot study to search for black holes and other dark companions in binary systems using direct imaging with SHARK-VIS and the iLocater pathfinder "Lili" on the Large Binocular Telescope. Starting from known…
We present a new dynamical measurement of the supermassive black hole mass and intrinsic shape of the stellar halo of the massive radio galaxy NGC 315 as part of the MASSIVE survey. High signal-to-noise ratio spectra from integral-field…
We study the prospects of searching for black hole (BH) binary systems with a stellar-mass BH and a non-compact visible companion, by utilizing the spectroscopic data of Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST). We…
The starburst/Seyfert composite galaxy IRAS 01072+4954 (z=0.0236) is an enigmatic source that combines a Seyfert~1-like X-ray emission with a starburst optical spectrum that lacks broad line emission. We performed high angular resolution…
Standard stellar evolution models predict that black holes in the range of approximately $50 - 140 M_\odot$ should not exist directly from stellar evolution. This gap appears because stars with masses between 100 and 240 $M_\odot$ are…
There are very few confirmed black holes with a mass that could be $\sim\! 4\, M_\odot$ and no neutron stars with masses greater than $\sim\! 2\, M_\odot$, creating a gap in the observed distribution of compact star masses. Some black holes…