The fast spiral-in of the companion star to the black hole XTE J1118+480

Details The fast spiral-in of the companion star to the black hole XTE J1118+480 The fast spiral-in of the companion star to the black hole XTE J1118+480

2011-12-08

arxiv.org/abs/1112.1839v2

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Galaxy Astrophysics

accepted for publication in ApJ letters

Scientific paper

We report the detection of an orbital period decay of $\dot P=-1.83\pm0.66$ ms yr$^{-1}$ in the black hole X-ray binary XTE J1118+480. This corresponds to a period change of $-0.85\pm0.30$ $\mu $s per orbital cycle, which is $\sim 150$ times larger than expected from the emission of gravitational waves. These observations cannot be reproduced by conventional models of magnetic braking even when including significant mass loss from the system. The spiral-in of the star is either driven by magnetic braking under extremely high magnetic fields in the secondary star or by a currently unknown process, which will have an impact on the evolution and lifetime of black hole X-ray binaries.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

The fast spiral-in of the companion star to the black hole XTE J1118+480 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 The fast spiral-in of the companion star to the black hole XTE J1118+480, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The fast spiral-in of the companion star to the black hole XTE J1118+480 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-548318