Orbital Period Of Ic10-x1 -- The Most Massive Known Stellar Black Hole?
Abstract
IC 10 X-1 is a bright, variable X-ray source in a local group starburst galaxy. The most plausible optical counterpart is a luminous Wolf-Rayet star, making IC 10 X-1 a rare example of a Wolf-Rayet X-ray binary. In this talk, I report on the detection of an X-ray orbital period for of 34.4 hours using the SWIFT XRT. This result, combined with optical spectra from Gemini and Keck , allow us to determine a mass function for the system f(M)=7.8 Msolar and a mass for the compact object of 24-33 Msolar. If this analysis is correct, the compact object is the most massive known stellar black black hole. I will briefly describe implications of this result for understanding Ultra-Luminous X-ray Sources (ULX).
- Publication:
-
AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division #10
- Pub Date:
- March 2008
- Bibcode:
- 2008HEAD...10.1906P