Related papers: Astrometric mass measurement of compact companions…
Astrometric satellite Gaia is expected to observe non-interacting black hole (BH) binaries with luminous companions (LCs) (hereafter BH-LC binaries), a different population from BH X-ray binaries previously discovered. The detectability of…
In astrometric binaries, the presence of a dark, unseen star can be inferred from the gravitational pull it induces on its luminous binary companion. While the orbit of such binaries can be characterized with precise astrometric…
Detection of black holes (BHs) with detached luminous companions (LCs) can be instrumental in connecting the BH properties with their progenitors' since the latter can be inferred from the observable properties of the LC. Past studies…
Over the course of several years, stars trace helical trajectories as they traverse across the sky due to the combined effects of proper motion and parallax. It is well known that the gravitational pull of an unseen companion can cause…
Since its launch in 2013, the Gaia space telescope has provided precise measurements of the positions and magnitudes of over 1 billion stars. This has enabled extensive searches for stellar and sub-stellar companions through astrometric and…
The masses of stars and planets can be measured dynamically in binary systems. For an unresolved binary, time series astrometry yields some orbital parameters, but it cannot provide the component masses, because we observe only the motion…
Soon after the Gaia data release (DR) 3 in June 2022, some candidates (and one confirmed) of detached black hole (BH) - luminous companion (LC) binaries have been reported. Existing and future detections of astrometric BH-LC binaries will…
Understanding the connection between the properties of black holes (BHs) and their progenitors is interesting in many branches of astrophysics. Discovering BHs in detached orbits with luminous companions (LCs) promises to help create this…
Gravitational waves from black-hole merging events have revealed a population of extra-galactic BHs residing in short-period binaries with masses that are higher than expected based on most stellar evolution models - and also higher than…
With its exquisite astrometric precision, the latest Gaia data release includes $\sim$$10^5$ astrometric binaries, each of which have measured orbital periods, eccentricities, and the Thiele-Innes orbital parameters. Using these and an…
We predict the number of black holes with stellar companions that are potentially detectable with Gaia astrometry over the course of its five-year mission. Our model estimates that nearly 2$\times$10$^5$ astrometric binaries hosting black…
We estimate the population of black holes with luminous stellar companions (BH-LCs) in the Milky Way (MW) observable by Gaia. We evolve a realistic distribution of BH-LC progenitors from zero-age to the current epoch taking into account…
The hunt for compact objects is on. Rarely seen massive binaries with a compact object are a crucial phase in the evolution towards compact object mergers. In Gaia data release 3 (DR3), the first Gaia astrometric orbital solutions for…
Astrometric observations with Gaia are expected to play a valuable role in future exoplanet surveys. With current data from Gaia's third data release (DR3), we are sensitive to periods from less than 1 year to more than 4 years but, unlike…
Until recently, black holes (BHs) could be discovered only through accretion from other stars in X-ray binaries, or in merging double compact objects. Improvements in astrometric and spectroscopic measurements have made it possible to…
We study the prospect of the Gaia satellite to identify black hole binary systems by detecting the orbital motion of the companion stars. Taking into account the initial mass function, mass transfer, common envelope phase, interstellar…
Stellar-mass black holes have been detected by radial-velocity observations in star/black hole binaries. These allow only the determination of the mass function. Tracking the astrometric orbits of the visible components of the star/black…
We investigate whether Gaia can specify the binary fractions of massive stellar populations in the Galactic disk through astrometric microlensing. Furthermore, we study if some information about their mass distributions can be inferred via…
Isolated black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs) are largely undetectable across the electromagnetic spectrum. For this reason, our only real prospect of observing these isolated compact remnants is via microlensing; a feat recently…
The gravitational pull of an unseen companion to a luminous star is well-known to cause deviations to the parallax and proper motion of a star. In a previous paper in this series, we argue that the astrometric mission Gaia can identify…