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Evidence for a black hole in the X-ray binary Nova Muscae 1991Optical photometry and spectroscopy of the X-ray Nova Muscae 1991 in quiescence reveal an orbital period of 10.398 +/- 0.014 hr and an absorption-line velocity curve consistent with a sinusoidal modulation at a half-amplitude of 409 +/- 18 km/s. The spectral type of the secondary star is in the range K0 V to K4 V. The value of the mass function, 3.1 +/- 0.4 solar mass, is a conservative lower limit on the mass of the compact primary and suggests that the primary is a black hole. Further considerations of the binary inclination angle and the mass of the secondary strengthen the black hole model. The folded light curves in the I band and the B + V band resemble ellipsoidal variations, with an additional brightening near one of the maxima in the B + V band. The orbital period is 1.4 percent shorter than the photometric period observed during outburst, as expected if the outburst modulations are analogs of 'superhumps' in dwarf novae. In quiescence, the optical properties of the X-ray binary Nova Muscae 1991 bear a striking resemblance to the black hole binary A0620-00, which extends the basis of similarity that was demonstrated during outburst at X-ray and optical wavelengths.
Document ID
19930031025
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Remillard, Ronald A.
(MIT Cambridge, MA, United States)
Mcclintock, Jeffrey E.
(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Bailyn, Charles D.
(Yale Univ. New Haven, CT, United States)
Date Acquired
August 15, 2013
Publication Date
November 10, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal, Part 2 - Letters
Volume: 399
Issue: 2
ISSN: 0004-637X
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Accession Number
93A15022
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-2469
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF AST-86-12572
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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