Bibcode
Shahbaz, T.; van der Hooft, F.; Casares, J.; Charles, P. A.; van Paradijs, J.
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 306, Issue 1, pp. 89-94.
Advertised on:
6
1999
Citations
121
Refereed citations
104
Description
We have obtained high- and intermediate-resolution optical spectra of
the black hole candidate Nova Scorpii 1994 in 1998 May/June, when the
source was in complete (X-ray) quiescence. We measure the radial
velocity curve of the secondary star and obtain a semi-amplitude of
K_2=215.5 +/- 2.4 km s^-1, which is 6 per cent lower than the only
previously determined value. This new value for K_2 thus reduces the
binary mass function to f(M) = 2.73 +/- 0.09 M_solar. Using only the
high-resolution spectra, we constrain the rotational broadening of the
secondary star, v sin i, to lie in the range 82.9-94.9 km s^-1 (95 per
cent confidence) and thus constrain the binary mass ratio to lie in the
range 0.337-0.436 (95 per cent confidence). We can also combine our
results with published limits for the binary inclination to constrain
the mass of the compact object and secondary star to the ranges 5.5-7.9
and 1.7-3.3 M_solar respectively (95 per cent confidence). Finally, we
report on the detection of the lithium resonance line at 6707.8 Å,
with an equivalent width of 55 +/- 8 m Å.