Parameters for the soft X-ray transient 4U 1543-47: Evidence for a black hole

Details Parameters for the soft X-ray transient 4U 1543-47: Evidence for a black hole Parameters for the soft X-ray transient 4U 1543-47: Evidence for a black hole

Apr 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998aipc..431..339o&link_type=abstract

Accretion processes in astrophysical systems: Some like it hot! - eigth astrophysics conference. AIP Conference Proceedings, Vo

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

X-Ray Sources, X-Ray Bursts, Black Holes, Binary And Multiple Stars, Visible

Scientific paper

Spectroscopic observations of the soft X-ray transient 4U 1543-47 reveal a sinusoidal radial velocity curve with a period of P=1.123+/-0.008 days and an amplitude of K=124+/-4 km sec-1. The resulting mass function is f(M)=0.22+/-0.02 Msolar. The V and I light curves exhibit two waves per orbital cycle with amplitudes about 0.08 mag. We modeled the light curves as ellipsoidal variations in the secondary star and found that the formal 3σ limits on the inclination from a simultaneous fit to the V and I light curves are 24°<=i<=36° for Q=M1/M2>=1. However, there are systematic effects in the data that the model does not account for, so the above constraints should be treated with caution. We argue that the secondary star is still on the main sequence with a mass in the range 2.3<=M2<=2.6 Msolar. This mass range, the 3σ inclination range (24°<=i<=36°), and the 3σ mass function range (0.16<=f(M)<=0.28 Msolar) imply a primary mass in the range 2.7<=M1<=7.5 Msolar. Thus the mass of the compact object in 4U 1543-47 is likely to be in excess of ~3 Msolar, which is widely regarded as the maximum mass of a stable neutron star. We therefore conclude 4U 1543-47 contains a black hole.

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