Black Holes Really are Black: New Evidence From Chandra

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

2

Scientific paper

We have used the Chandra X-ray Observatory to observe the following six black hole X-ray transients in quiescence: GRO J0422+32 (orbital period Porb=5.1 hr), A0620--00 (Porb=7.8 hr), GS2000+25 (Porb=8.3 hr), 4U1543--47 (Porb=27.0 hr), GRO J1655--40 (Porb=62.9 hr), GS2023+338 (Porb=155 hr). Previous to these Chandra observations there was only a single detection of a short period (Porb < 50 hr) quiescent black hole transient, that of A0620--00. To this we add the detection of two more short period black hole transients in quiescence (GRO J0422+32 and GS2000+25), and we derive an upper limit for 4U1543--47 which is a factor of 30 lower than previous limits. We find that quiescent black hole transients are more than 100 times dimmer in X-rays than quiescent neutron star transients with similar orbital periods. We interpret this dramatic difference as evidence that black hole candidates in X-ray transients have event horizons. We conclude that black holes really are black, as predicted by theory. This work was supported by NSF via grant AST-9820686 and NASA via Contract NAS8-39073 to the Chandra X-ray Center.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Black Holes Really are Black: New Evidence From Chandra does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Black Holes Really are Black: New Evidence From Chandra, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Black Holes Really are Black: New Evidence From Chandra will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1728646

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.