On the formation and evolution of black hole binaries |
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Authors: | Ph Podsiadlowski S Rappaport Z Han |
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Institution: | University of Oxford, Department of Astrophysics, Oxford OX1 3RH;Department of Physics and Centre for Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA;Yunnan Observatory, National Astronomical Observatories, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650011, China |
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Abstract: | We present the results of a systematic study of the formation and evolution of binaries containing black holes and normal-star companions with a wide range of masses. We first reexamine the standard formation scenario for close black hole binaries, where the progenitor system, a binary with at least one massive component, experienced a common-envelope phase and where the spiral-in of the companion in the envelope of the massive star caused the ejection of the envelope. We estimate the formation rates for different companion masses and different assumptions about the common-envelope structure and other model parameters. We find that black hole binaries with intermediate- and high-mass secondaries can form for a wide range of assumptions, while black hole binaries with low-mass secondaries can only form with apparently unrealistic assumptions (in agreement with previous studies). We then present detailed binary evolution sequences for black hole binaries with secondaries of 2 to 17 M⊙ and demonstrate that in these systems the black hole can accrete appreciably even if accretion is Eddington-limited (up to 7 M⊙ for an initial black hole mass of 10 M⊙) and that the black holes can be spun up significantly in the process. We discuss the implications of these calculations for well-studied black hole binaries (in particular GRS 1915+105) and ultraluminous X-ray sources of which GRS 1915+105 appears to represent a typical Galactic counterpart. We also present a detailed evolutionary model for Cygnus X-1, a massive black hole binary, which suggests that at present the system is most likely in a wind mass-transfer phase following an earlier Roche-lobe overflow phase. Finally, we discuss how some of the assumptions in the standard model could be relaxed to allow the formation of low-mass, short-period black hole binaries, which appear to be very abundant in nature. |
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Keywords: | black hole physics gravitation binaries: close stars: individual: Cygnus X-1 stars: individual: GRS 1915+105 X-rays: stars |
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