Estimating the Spin of Stellar-Mass Black Holes by Spectral Fitting of the X-Ray Continuum

 
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Shafee, Rebecca
McClintock, Jeffrey E.
Narayan, Ramesh
Davis, Shane W.
Li, Li-Xin
Remillard, Ronald A.
Shafee, Rebecca
McClintock, Jeffrey
Narayan, Ramesh
Davis, Shane
Li, Li-Xin
Remillard, Ronald
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https://doi.org/10.1086/498938
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Shafee, Rebecca, Jeffrey E. McClintock, Ramesh Narayan, Shane W. Davis, Li-Xin Li, and Ronald A. Remillard. 2005. “Estimating the Spin of Stellar-Mass Black Holes by Spectral Fitting of the X-Ray Continuum.” The Astrophysical Journal 636 (2): L113–16. https://doi.org/10.1086/498938.
Abstract
We fit X-ray spectral data in the thermal-dominant, or high-soft, state of two dynamically confirmed black holes, GRO J1655-40 and 4U 1543-47, and estimate the dimensionless spin parameters a* a/M of the two holes. For GRO J1655-40, using a spectral hardening factor computed for a non-LTE relativistic accretion disk, we estimate a*similar to 0.75 and a*similar to 0.65-0.75, respectively, from ASCA and RXTE data. For 4U 1543-47, we estimate a*similar to 0.75-0.85 from RXTE data. Thus, neither black hole has a spin approaching the theoretical maximum a* = 1.
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http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:41384965

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