DISCOVERY OF X-RAY EMISSION FROM THE FIRST Be/BLACK HOLE SYSTEM
- Departament d'Astronomia i Meteorologia, Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona, IEEC-UB, Martí i Franquès 1, E-08028 Barcelona (Spain)
- ICREA, Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, Universitat de Barcelona, IEEC-UB, Martí i Franquès 1, E-08028 Barcelona (Spain)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH (United Kingdom)
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)
MWC 656 (=HD 215227) was recently discovered to be the first binary system composed of a Be star and a black hole (BH). We observed it with XMM-Newton, and detected a faint X-ray source compatible with the position of the optical star, thus proving it to be the first Be/BH X-ray binary. The spectrum analysis requires a model fit with two components, a blackbody plus a power law, with k{sub B}T=0.07{sub −0.03}{sup +0.04} keV and a photon index Γ = 1.0 ± 0.8, respectively. The non-thermal component dominates above ≅0.8 keV. The obtained total flux is F(0.3-5.5 keV)=(4.6{sub −1.1}{sup +1.3})×10{sup −14} erg cm{sup –2} s{sup –1}. At a distance of 2.6 ± 0.6 kpc the total flux translates into a luminosity L {sub X} = (3.7 ± 1.7) × 10{sup 31} erg s{sup –1}. Considering the estimated range of BH masses to be 3.8-6.9 M {sub ☉}, this luminosity represents (6.7 ± 4.4) × 10{sup –8} L {sub Edd}, which is typical of stellar-mass BHs in quiescence. We discuss the origin of the two spectral components: the thermal component is associated with the hot wind of the Be star, whereas the power-law component is associated with emission from the vicinity of the BH. We also find that the position of MWC 656 in the radio versus X-ray luminosity diagram may be consistent with the radio/X-ray correlation observed in BH low-mass X-ray binaries. This suggests that this correlation might also be valid for BH high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) with X-ray luminosities down to ∼10{sup –8} L {sub Edd}. MWC 656 will allow the accretion processes and the accretion/ejection coupling at very low luminosities for BH HMXBs to be studied.
- OSTI ID:
- 22365867
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 786, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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