TESTING WIND AS AN EXPLANATION FOR THE SPIN PROBLEM IN THE CONTINUUM-FITTING METHOD

ABSTRACT The continuum-fitting method is one of the two most advanced methods of determining the black hole spin in accreting X-ray binary systems. There are, however, still some unresolved issues with the underlying disk models. One of these issues manifests as an apparent decrease in spin for incr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2016-04, Vol.821 (2), p.104-104
Main Authors: You, Bei, Straub, Odele, Czerny, Bo ena, Sobolewska, Ma gosia, Ró a ska, Agata, Bursa, Michal, Dov iak, Michal
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accretion
ACCRETION DISKS
accretion, accretion disks
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Binary stars
black hole physics
BLACK HOLES
LUMINOSITY
MASS
Mathematical models
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
Outflow
RESOLUTION
SPECTRA
SPIN
STELLAR WINDS
X RADIATION
X-rays: binaries
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Summary:ABSTRACT The continuum-fitting method is one of the two most advanced methods of determining the black hole spin in accreting X-ray binary systems. There are, however, still some unresolved issues with the underlying disk models. One of these issues manifests as an apparent decrease in spin for increasing source luminosity. Here, we perform a few simple tests to establish whether outflows from the disk close to the inner radius can address this problem. We employ four different parametric models to describe the wind and compare these to the apparent decrease in spin with luminosity measured in the sources LMC X-3 and GRS 1915+105. Wind models in which parameters do not explicitly depend on the accretion rate cannot reproduce the spin measurements. Models with mass accretion rate dependent outflows, however, have spectra that emulate the observed ones. The assumption of a wind thus effectively removes the artifact of spin decrease. This solution is not unique; the same conclusion can be obtained using a truncated inner disk model. To distinguish among the valid models, we will need high-resolution X-ray data and a realistic description of the Comptonization in the wind.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/0004-637X/821/2/104