A Sun-like star orbiting a black hole
Article
El-Badry, Kareem, Rix, Hans-Walter, Quataert, Eliot, Howard, A., Isaacson, Howard, Fuller, Jim, Hawkins, Keith, Breivik, Katelyn, Wong, Kaze W. K., Rodriguez, Antonio C., Conroy, Charlie, Shahaf, Sahar, Mazeh, Tsevi, Arenou, Frederic, Burdge, Kevin B., Bashi, Dolev, Faigler, Simchon, Weisz, Daniel R., Seeburger, Rhys, ..., Wojno, Jennifer. 2023. "A Sun-like star orbiting a black hole." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 518 (1), pp. 1057-1085. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3140
Article Title | A Sun-like star orbiting a black hole |
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ERA Journal ID | 1074 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | El-Badry, Kareem, Rix, Hans-Walter, Quataert, Eliot, Howard, A., Isaacson, Howard, Fuller, Jim, Hawkins, Keith, Breivik, Katelyn, Wong, Kaze W. K., Rodriguez, Antonio C., Conroy, Charlie, Shahaf, Sahar, Mazeh, Tsevi, Arenou, Frederic, Burdge, Kevin B., Bashi, Dolev, Faigler, Simchon, Weisz, Daniel R., Seeburger, Rhys, Monter, Silvia Almada and Wojno, Jennifer |
Journal Title | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Journal Citation | 518 (1), pp. 1057-1085 |
Number of Pages | 29 |
Year | 2023 |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Place of Publication | United Kingdom |
ISSN | 0035-8711 |
1365-2966 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3140 |
Web Address (URL) | https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/518/1/1057/6794289 |
Abstract | We report discovery of a bright, nearby (G = 13.8;, d = 480pc) Sun-like star orbiting a dark object. We identified the system as a black hole candidate via its astrometric orbital solution from the Gaia mission. Radial velocities validated and refined the Gaia solution, and spectroscopy ruled out significant light contributions from another star. Joint modelling of radial velocities and astrometry constrains the companion mass of M2 = 9.62 ± 0.18 M?. The spectroscopic orbit alone sets a minimum companion mass of M2 > 5 M? if the companion were a 5 M? star, it would be 500 times more luminous than the entire system. These constraints are insensitive to the mass of the luminous star, which appears as a slowly rotating G dwarf (Teff=5850 K, log g = 4.5, M=0.93 M?), with near-solar metallicity (Fe/H] = -0.2) and an unremarkable abundance pattern. We find no plausible astrophysical scenario that can explain the orbit and does not involve a black hole. The orbital period, Porb = 185.6 d, is longer than that of any known stellar-mass black hole binary. The system's modest eccentricity (e = 0.45), high metallicity, and thin-disc Galactic orbit suggest that it was born in the Milky Way disc with at most a weak natal kick. How the system formed is uncertain. Common envelope evolution can only produce the system's wide orbit under extreme and likely unphysical assumptions. Formation models involving triples or dynamical assembly in an open cluster may be more promising. This is the nearest known black hole by a factor of 3, and its discovery suggests the existence of a sizable population of dormant black holes in binaries. Future Gaia releases will likely facilitate the discovery of dozens more. |
Keywords | binaries: spectroscopic; stars: black holes |
Contains Sensitive Content | Does not contain sensitive content |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 510109. Stellar astronomy and planetary systems |
Public Notes | This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2023 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
Byline Affiliations | Center for Astrophysics Harvard and Smithsonian, United States |
Harvard Society of Fellows, United States | |
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Germany | |
Princeton University, United States | |
California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States | |
University of California Berkeley, United States | |
Centre for Astrophysics | |
University of Texas at Austin, United States | |
Flatiron Institute, United States | |
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel | |
Tel Aviv University, Israel | |
Paris Observatory, France | |
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, United States |
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