Hunting black holes with Gaia

Abstract We predict the number of black holes with stellar companions that are potentially detectable with Gaia astrometry over the course of its 5-yr mission. Our model estimates that nearly 2 × 105 astrometric binaries hosting black holes and stellar companions brighter than Gaia’s detection thres...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2017-09, Vol.470 (3), p.2611-2616
Main Authors: Mashian, Natalie, Loeb, Abraham
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Abstract We predict the number of black holes with stellar companions that are potentially detectable with Gaia astrometry over the course of its 5-yr mission. Our model estimates that nearly 2 × 105 astrometric binaries hosting black holes and stellar companions brighter than Gaia’s detection threshold, G ∼ 20, should be discovered with 5σ sensitivity. Among these detectable binaries, systems with longer orbital periods are favoured, and black hole and stellar companion masses in the range M BH ∼ 6–10 M⊙ and M * ∼ 1–2 M⊙, respectively, are expected to dominate.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stx1410