Bibcode
Garcia, M. R.; Murray, S. S.; McClintock, J. E.; Narayan, R.
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, 197th AAS Meeting, #118.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 32, p.1604
Advertised on:
12
2000
Citations
2
Refereed citations
0
Description
We have used the Chandra X-ray Observatory to observe the following six
black hole X-ray transients in quiescence: GRO J0422+32 (orbital period
Porb=5.1 hr), A0620--00 (Porb=7.8 hr), GS2000+25
(Porb=8.3 hr), 4U1543--47 (Porb=27.0 hr), GRO
J1655--40 (Porb=62.9 hr), GS2023+338 (Porb=155
hr). Previous to these Chandra observations there was only a single
detection of a short period (Porb < 50 hr) quiescent black
hole transient, that of A0620--00. To this we add the detection of two
more short period black hole transients in quiescence (GRO J0422+32 and
GS2000+25), and we derive an upper limit for 4U1543--47 which is a
factor of 30 lower than previous limits. We find that quiescent black
hole transients are more than 100 times dimmer in X-rays than quiescent
neutron star transients with similar orbital periods. We interpret this
dramatic difference as evidence that black hole candidates in X-ray
transients have event horizons. We conclude that black holes really are
black, as predicted by theory. This work was supported by NSF via grant
AST-9820686 and NASA via Contract NAS8-39073 to the Chandra X-ray
Center.