An X-ray-quiet black hole born with a negligible kick in a massive binary within the Large Magellanic Cloud

Tomer Shenar; Hugues Sana; Laurent Mahy; Kareem El-Badry; Pablo Marchant; Norbert Langer; Calum Hawcroft; Matthias Fabry; Koushik Sen; Leonardo A. Almeida; Michael Abdul-Masih; Julia Bodensteiner; Paul A. Crowther; Mark Gieles; Mariusz Gromadzki; Vincent Hénault-Brunet; Artemio Herrero; Alex de Koter; Patryk Iwanek; Szymon Kozłowski; Daniel J. Lennon; Jesús Maíz Apellániz; Przemysław Mróz; Anthony F.J. Moffat; Annachiara Picco; Paweł Pietrukowicz; Radosław Poleski; Krzysztof Rybicki; Fabian R.N. Schneider; Dorota M. Skowron; Jan Skowron; Igor Soszyński; Michał K. Szymański; Silvia Toonen; Andrzej Udalski; Krzysztof Ulaczyk; Jorick S. Vink; Marcin Wrona

doi:10.1038/s41550-022-01730-y

An X-ray-quiet black hole born with a negligible kick in a massive binary within the Large Magellanic Cloud

Tomer Shenar^*, Hugues Sana, Laurent Mahy, Kareem El-Badry, Pablo Marchant, Norbert Langer, Calum Hawcroft, Matthias Fabry, Koushik Sen, Leonardo A. Almeida, Michael Abdul-Masih, Julia Bodensteiner, Paul A. Crowther, Mark Gieles, Mariusz Gromadzki, Vincent Hénault-Brunet, Artemio Herrero, Alex de Koter, Patryk Iwanek, Szymon KozłowskiDaniel J. Lennon, Jesús Maíz Apellániz, Przemysław Mróz, Anthony F.J. Moffat, Annachiara Picco, Paweł Pietrukowicz, Radosław Poleski, Krzysztof Rybicki, Fabian R.N. Schneider, Dorota M. Skowron, Jan Skowron, Igor Soszyński, Michał K. Szymański, Silvia Toonen, Andrzej Udalski, Krzysztof Ulaczyk, Jorick S. Vink, Marcin Wrona

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

55 Scopus citations

Abstract

Stellar-mass black holes are the final remnants of stars born with more than 15 solar masses. Billions are expected to reside in the Local Group, yet only a few are known, mostly detected through X-rays emitted as they accrete material from a companion star. Here, we report on VFTS 243: a massive X-ray-faint binary in the Large Magellanic Cloud. With an orbital period of 10.4 d, it comprises an O-type star of 25 solar masses and an unseen companion of at least nine solar masses. Our spectral analysis excludes a non-degenerate companion at a 5σ confidence level. The minimum companion mass implies that it is a black hole. No other X-ray-quiet black hole is unambiguously known outside our Galaxy. The (near-)circular orbit and kinematics of VFTS 243 imply that the collapse of the progenitor into a black hole was associated with little or no ejected material or black-hole kick. Identifying such unique binaries substantially impacts the predicted rates of gravitational-wave detections and properties of core-collapse supernovae across the cosmos.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1085-1092
Number of pages	8
Journal	Nature Astronomy
Volume	6
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01730-y
State	Published - Sep 2022
Externally published	Yes

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Shenar, T., Sana, H., Mahy, L., El-Badry, K., Marchant, P., Langer, N., Hawcroft, C., Fabry, M., Sen, K., Almeida, L. A., Abdul-Masih, M., Bodensteiner, J., Crowther, P. A., Gieles, M., Gromadzki, M., Hénault-Brunet, V., Herrero, A., Koter, A. D., Iwanek, P., ... Wrona, M. (2022). An X-ray-quiet black hole born with a negligible kick in a massive binary within the Large Magellanic Cloud. Nature Astronomy, 6(9), 1085-1092. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01730-y

@article{36c9ed07e0e647acafd6d85c4deaff71,

title = "An X-ray-quiet black hole born with a negligible kick in a massive binary within the Large Magellanic Cloud",

abstract = "Stellar-mass black holes are the final remnants of stars born with more than 15 solar masses. Billions are expected to reside in the Local Group, yet only a few are known, mostly detected through X-rays emitted as they accrete material from a companion star. Here, we report on VFTS 243: a massive X-ray-faint binary in the Large Magellanic Cloud. With an orbital period of 10.4 d, it comprises an O-type star of 25 solar masses and an unseen companion of at least nine solar masses. Our spectral analysis excludes a non-degenerate companion at a 5σ confidence level. The minimum companion mass implies that it is a black hole. No other X-ray-quiet black hole is unambiguously known outside our Galaxy. The (near-)circular orbit and kinematics of VFTS 243 imply that the collapse of the progenitor into a black hole was associated with little or no ejected material or black-hole kick. Identifying such unique binaries substantially impacts the predicted rates of gravitational-wave detections and properties of core-collapse supernovae across the cosmos.",

author = "Tomer Shenar and Hugues Sana and Laurent Mahy and Kareem El-Badry and Pablo Marchant and Norbert Langer and Calum Hawcroft and Matthias Fabry and Koushik Sen and Almeida, {Leonardo A.} and Michael Abdul-Masih and Julia Bodensteiner and Crowther, {Paul A.} and Mark Gieles and Mariusz Gromadzki and Vincent H{\'e}nault-Brunet and Artemio Herrero and Koter, {Alex de} and Patryk Iwanek and Szymon Koz{\l}owski and Lennon, {Daniel J.} and Apell{\'a}niz, {Jes{\'u}s Ma{\'i}z} and Przemys{\l}aw Mr{\'o}z and Moffat, {Anthony F.J.} and Annachiara Picco and Pawe{\l} Pietrukowicz and Rados{\l}aw Poleski and Krzysztof Rybicki and Schneider, {Fabian R.N.} and Skowron, {Dorota M.} and Jan Skowron and Igor Soszy{\'n}ski and Szyma{\'n}ski, {Micha{\l} K.} and Silvia Toonen and Andrzej Udalski and Krzysztof Ulaczyk and Vink, {Jorick S.} and Marcin Wrona",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

year = "2022",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1038/s41550-022-01730-y",

language = "אנגלית",

volume = "6",

pages = "1085--1092",

journal = "Nature Astronomy",

issn = "2397-3366",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

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Shenar, T, Sana, H, Mahy, L, El-Badry, K, Marchant, P, Langer, N, Hawcroft, C, Fabry, M, Sen, K, Almeida, LA, Abdul-Masih, M, Bodensteiner, J, Crowther, PA, Gieles, M, Gromadzki, M, Hénault-Brunet, V, Herrero, A, Koter, AD, Iwanek, P, Kozłowski, S, Lennon, DJ, Apellániz, JM, Mróz, P, Moffat, AFJ, Picco, A, Pietrukowicz, P, Poleski, R, Rybicki, K, Schneider, FRN, Skowron, DM, Skowron, J, Soszyński, I, Szymański, MK, Toonen, S, Udalski, A, Ulaczyk, K, Vink, JS & Wrona, M 2022, 'An X-ray-quiet black hole born with a negligible kick in a massive binary within the Large Magellanic Cloud', Nature Astronomy, vol. 6, no. 9, pp. 1085-1092. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01730-y

TY - JOUR

T1 - An X-ray-quiet black hole born with a negligible kick in a massive binary within the Large Magellanic Cloud

AU - Shenar, Tomer

AU - Sana, Hugues

AU - Mahy, Laurent

AU - El-Badry, Kareem

AU - Marchant, Pablo

AU - Langer, Norbert

AU - Hawcroft, Calum

AU - Fabry, Matthias

AU - Sen, Koushik

AU - Almeida, Leonardo A.

AU - Abdul-Masih, Michael

AU - Bodensteiner, Julia

AU - Crowther, Paul A.

AU - Gieles, Mark

AU - Gromadzki, Mariusz

AU - Hénault-Brunet, Vincent

AU - Herrero, Artemio

AU - Koter, Alex de

AU - Iwanek, Patryk

AU - Kozłowski, Szymon

AU - Lennon, Daniel J.

AU - Apellániz, Jesús Maíz

AU - Mróz, Przemysław

AU - Moffat, Anthony F.J.

AU - Picco, Annachiara

AU - Pietrukowicz, Paweł

AU - Poleski, Radosław

AU - Rybicki, Krzysztof

AU - Schneider, Fabian R.N.

AU - Skowron, Dorota M.

AU - Skowron, Jan

AU - Soszyński, Igor

AU - Szymański, Michał K.

AU - Toonen, Silvia

AU - Udalski, Andrzej

AU - Ulaczyk, Krzysztof

AU - Vink, Jorick S.

AU - Wrona, Marcin

PY - 2022/9

Y1 - 2022/9

N2 - Stellar-mass black holes are the final remnants of stars born with more than 15 solar masses. Billions are expected to reside in the Local Group, yet only a few are known, mostly detected through X-rays emitted as they accrete material from a companion star. Here, we report on VFTS 243: a massive X-ray-faint binary in the Large Magellanic Cloud. With an orbital period of 10.4 d, it comprises an O-type star of 25 solar masses and an unseen companion of at least nine solar masses. Our spectral analysis excludes a non-degenerate companion at a 5σ confidence level. The minimum companion mass implies that it is a black hole. No other X-ray-quiet black hole is unambiguously known outside our Galaxy. The (near-)circular orbit and kinematics of VFTS 243 imply that the collapse of the progenitor into a black hole was associated with little or no ejected material or black-hole kick. Identifying such unique binaries substantially impacts the predicted rates of gravitational-wave detections and properties of core-collapse supernovae across the cosmos.

AB - Stellar-mass black holes are the final remnants of stars born with more than 15 solar masses. Billions are expected to reside in the Local Group, yet only a few are known, mostly detected through X-rays emitted as they accrete material from a companion star. Here, we report on VFTS 243: a massive X-ray-faint binary in the Large Magellanic Cloud. With an orbital period of 10.4 d, it comprises an O-type star of 25 solar masses and an unseen companion of at least nine solar masses. Our spectral analysis excludes a non-degenerate companion at a 5σ confidence level. The minimum companion mass implies that it is a black hole. No other X-ray-quiet black hole is unambiguously known outside our Galaxy. The (near-)circular orbit and kinematics of VFTS 243 imply that the collapse of the progenitor into a black hole was associated with little or no ejected material or black-hole kick. Identifying such unique binaries substantially impacts the predicted rates of gravitational-wave detections and properties of core-collapse supernovae across the cosmos.

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U2 - 10.1038/s41550-022-01730-y

DO - 10.1038/s41550-022-01730-y

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AN - SCOPUS:85134525146

SN - 2397-3366

VL - 6

SP - 1085

EP - 1092

JO - Nature Astronomy

JF - Nature Astronomy

IS - 9

ER -

An X-ray-quiet black hole born with a negligible kick in a massive binary within the Large Magellanic Cloud

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