Black Hole Spin-Orbit Misalignment in Galactic X-ray Binaries

In black hole (BH) X-ray binaries (XRBs), a misalignment between the spin axis of the BH and the orbital angular momentum can occur during the supernova explosion that forms the compact object. In this Letter, we present population synthesis (PS) models of Galactic BH XRBs and study the probability density function of the misalignment angle and its dependence on our model parameters. In our modeling, we also take into account the evolution of the misalignment angle due to accretion of material onto the BH during the XRB phase. The major factor that sets the misalignment angle for XRBs is the natal kick that the BH may receive at its formation. However, large kicks tend to disrupt binaries, while small kicks allow the formation of XRBs and naturally select systems with small misalignment angles. Our calculations predict that the majority (>67%) of Galactic field BH XRBs have rather small (lsim10°) misalignment angles, while some systems may reach misalignment angles as high as ~90° and even higher. These results are robust among all PS models. The assumption of small misalignment angles is extensively used to observationally estimate BH spin magnitudes, and for the first time we are able to confirm this assumption using detailed PS calculations.