Asymmetric Light Curves of Black Hole Binaries and the Doppler Beaming Effect

Details Asymmetric Light Curves of Black Hole Binaries and the Doppler Beaming Effect Asymmetric Light Curves of Black Hole Binaries and the Doppler Beaming Effect

Mar 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002jass...19...25l&link_type=abstract

Journal of Astronomy and Space Science, vol. 19, no. 1, p. 25-30

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Black Hole Binary, Light Curve, Photometry

Scientific paper

Black hole binary candidates are known to be composed of a black hole with 10Msolar and a K or M type companion. Because the companion is believed to fill the Roche lobe that is very aspherical, the light curves of black hole binaries are characterized by an ellipsoidal variation. It has been known that the ellipsoidal light curves exhibit asymmetric maximum brightness at the orbital phases 0.25 and 0.75, which has been attributed to star spots or the hot impact points of the accretion flow on to the accretion disk around the black hole. In this paper, it is pointed out that the special relativistic beaming effect contributes to the asymmetry of several percent often observed in the light curves. The typical orbital velocity 400 km s-1 observed in black hole binaries may induce the temperature difference Δ T/T~1/400 of the late type companion star in the observer's rest frame, because of the special relativistic Doppler beaming effect. This difference in temperature can result in several per cent of brightness sensitively dependent on the wavelength band, which is comparable to what has been observed in most black hole binary candidates. Considering the significant contribution of the special relativistic Doppler beaming effect, we conclude that the estimation of the sizes and temperatures of the star spots or the hot impact point needs serious revision.

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