Why Low-Mass Black-Hole Binaries Are Transient

Details Why Low-Mass Black-Hole Binaries Are Transient Why Low-Mass Black-Hole Binaries Are Transient

1997-05-06

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9705036v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

13 pages (including 3 figures); accepted for publication in ApJ

Scientific paper

10.1086/304700

We consider transient behavior in low-mass X-ray binaries. In short-period neutron-star systems (orbital period less than ~ 1d) irradiation of the accretion disk by the central source suppresses this except at very low mass transfer rates. Formation constraints however imply that a significant fraction of these neutron star systems have nuclear-evolved main-sequence secondaries and thus mass transfer rates low enough to be transient. But most short-period low-mass black-hole systems will form with unevolved main-sequence companions and have much higher mass transfer rates. The fact that essentially all of them are nevertheless transient shows that irradiation is weaker, as a direct consequence of the fundamental black-hole property - the lack of a hard stellar surface.

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