A period-dependent spatial scatter of Galactic black hole transients
A period-dependent spatial scatter of Galactic black hole transients
There remain significant uncertainties in the origin and evolution of black holes in binary systems, in particular regarding their birth sites and the influence of natal kicks. These are long-standing issues, but their debate has been reinvigorated in the era of gravitational wave detections and the improving precision of astrometric measurements. Using recent and archival characterization of Galactic black hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs), we report here an apparent anticorrelation between Porb (system orbital periods) and scatter in z (elevation above the Galactic plane). The absence of long-period sources at high z is not an obvious observational bias, and two possible explanatory scenarios are qualitatively explored: (1) a disc origin for BHXBs followed by natal kicks producing the scatter in z, with only the tightest binaries preferentially surviving strong kicks; and (2) a halo origin, with Porb shortening through dynamical interactions in globular clusters (GCs). For the latter case, we show a correspondence in z-scatter between BHXBs and the GCs with most compact core radii of <0.1 pc. However, the known absence of outbursting BHXB transients within Galactic GCs remains puzzling in this case, in contrast to the multitude of known GC neutron star XRBs. These results provide an interesting observational constraint for any black hole binary evolutionary model to satisfy.
accretion, accretion discs, parallaxes, proper motions, stars: distances, stars: kinematics and dynamics
L22-L27
Gandhi, P.
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Rao, A.
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Charles, P.A.
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Belczynski, K.
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Maccarone, T.J.
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Arur, K.
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Corral-Santana, J.M.
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22 May 2020
Gandhi, P.
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Rao, A.
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Charles, P.A.
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Belczynski, K.
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Maccarone, T.J.
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Arur, K.
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Corral-Santana, J.M.
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Gandhi, P., Rao, A., Charles, P.A., Belczynski, K., Maccarone, T.J., Arur, K. and Corral-Santana, J.M.
(2020)
A period-dependent spatial scatter of Galactic black hole transients.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 496 (1), .
(doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slaa081).
Abstract
There remain significant uncertainties in the origin and evolution of black holes in binary systems, in particular regarding their birth sites and the influence of natal kicks. These are long-standing issues, but their debate has been reinvigorated in the era of gravitational wave detections and the improving precision of astrometric measurements. Using recent and archival characterization of Galactic black hole X-ray binaries (BHXBs), we report here an apparent anticorrelation between Porb (system orbital periods) and scatter in z (elevation above the Galactic plane). The absence of long-period sources at high z is not an obvious observational bias, and two possible explanatory scenarios are qualitatively explored: (1) a disc origin for BHXBs followed by natal kicks producing the scatter in z, with only the tightest binaries preferentially surviving strong kicks; and (2) a halo origin, with Porb shortening through dynamical interactions in globular clusters (GCs). For the latter case, we show a correspondence in z-scatter between BHXBs and the GCs with most compact core radii of <0.1 pc. However, the known absence of outbursting BHXB transients within Galactic GCs remains puzzling in this case, in contrast to the multitude of known GC neutron star XRBs. These results provide an interesting observational constraint for any black hole binary evolutionary model to satisfy.
Text
A period-dependent spatial scatter of Galactic black hole transients
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 29 April 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 May 2020
Published date: 22 May 2020
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge prompt comments by the reviewer, and suggestions by A. Bahramian. PG acknowledges support from STFC (ST/R000506/1) and a UGC-UKIERI Thematic Partnership, and comments from C. Heinke and P. Atri. AR was in receipt of a CSC Fellowship. KB acknowledges support from the Polish National Science Center (NCN) grant. The Gaia mission is funded by the European Space Agency.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Keywords:
accretion, accretion discs, parallaxes, proper motions, stars: distances, stars: kinematics and dynamics
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 442907
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/442907
ISSN: 1745-3925
PURE UUID: 0be0a74f-8f25-4815-84fe-22daa752986e
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Date deposited: 31 Jul 2020 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:36
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Contributors
Author:
A. Rao
Author:
K. Belczynski
Author:
T.J. Maccarone
Author:
K. Arur
Author:
J.M. Corral-Santana
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