Related papers: Black Hole Candidates
We show that binaries of stellar-mass black holes formed inside a young protoglobular cluster, can grow rapidly inside the cluster's core by accretion of the intracluster gas, before the gas may be depleted from the core. A black hole with…
Here we report a measurement of the orbital period and mass function of GRS 1915+105 which allow us to deduce a mass of 14 +- 4 solar masses for its black hole. This large mass provides a challenge for black hole formation scenarios in…
While until recently they were often considered as exotic objects of dubious existence, in the last decades there have been overwhelming observational evidences for the presence of stellar mass black holes in binary systems, supermassive…
We have found compact X-ray sources in the center of 21 (54%) of 39 nearby face-on spiral and elliptical galaxies with available ROSAT HRI data. ROSAT X-ray luminosities (0.2 - 2.4 keV) of these compact X-ray sources are ~ 1e37 - 1e40 erg/s…
A brief review is given for X-ray properties of black hole binary systems. Topics include the effort to re-define the three states of active accretion, potential applications for general relativity in the regime of strong gravity, and the…
Galactic stellar-population-synthesis models, chemical-enrichment models, and long-duration Bulge microlensing events indicate about N_tot=(0.1-1) billion stellar-mass black holes reside in our Galaxy. We study X-ray emission from accretion…
The INTEGRAL/IBIS survey was performed collecting all the GPS and GCDE data together with all the available public data . The second catalogue, published in 2006 by Bird et al., is dominated by detection of 113 X-ray binaries, with 38 being…
Aims. Large radial velocity variations in the LAMOST spectra of giant stars have been used to infer the presence of unseen companions. Some of them have been proposed as possible black hole candidates. We test this selection by…
Astrophysical black hole candidates are thought to be the Kerr black holes predicted by General Relativity, but the actual nature of these objects has still to be proven. The Kerr black hole hypothesis can be tested by observing strong…
Most X-ray novae (aka soft X-ray transients) contain black hole primaries. In particular, the large mass functions measured for six X-ray novae directly clinch the argument (within general relativity) that they contain black holes. These…
Binary black holes as the recently detected sources of gravitational waves can be formed from massive stellar binaries in the field or by dynamical interactions in clusters of high stellar density, if the black holes are the remnants of…
Theoretical models predict that the Galaxy hosts $10^8$-$10^9$ black holes formed from the complete gravitational collapse of heavy stars and that most of these black holes are isolated, without any companion. Within 15 pc of the Solar…
Although General Relativity had provided the physical basis of black holes, evidence for their existence had to await the Space Era when X-ray observations first directed the attention of astronomers to the unusual binary stars Cygnus X-1…
Observations indicate that most massive galaxies contain a supermassive black hole, and theoretical studies suggest that when such galaxies have a major merger, the central black holes will form a binary and eventually coalesce. Here we…
We investigate systematically whether accreting black hole systems are likely to reach global alignment of the black hole spin and its accretion disc with the binary plane. In low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) there is only a modest tendency…
Present status of the possible black hole microlensing events and the present understanding of high frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in systems containing black hole candidates (BHCs) are briefly discussed. The growing evidence for the…
Hard X-ray emission is ubiquitous in accreting black holes, both in Galactic binary systems and in Active Galactic Nuclei. I review the different spectra which can be seen from these systems, and possible ways of producing this emission.…
Black-hole binaries are important sources through which studying accretion onto compact objects. In the X/gamma-ray domain, these objects show several and complex spectral behaviours and transitions. Based on INTEGRAL observations collected…
Black holes in binary star systems are vital for understanding the process of pr oducing gravitational wave sources, understanding how supernovae work, and for p roviding fossil evidence for the high mass stars from earlier in the Universe.…
I outline the theory of accretion onto black holes, and its application to observed phenomena such as X-ray binaries, active galactic nuclei, tidal disruption events, and gamma-ray bursts. The dynamics as well as radiative signatures of…