Cygnus X-1 contains a 21-solar mass black hole-Implications for massive star winds

James C.A. Miller-Jones; Arash Bahramian; Jerome A. Orosz; Ilya Mande; Lijun Gou; Thomas J. Maccarone; Coenraad J. Neijsse; Xueshan Zhao; Janusz Ziółkowski; Mark J. Reid; Phil Uttley; Xueying Zheng; Do Young Byun; Richard Dodson; Victoria Grinberg; Taehyun Jung; Jeong Sook Kim; Benito Marcote; Sera Markoff; Mariá J. Rioja; Anthony P. Rushton; David M. Russell; Gregory R. Sivakoff; Alexandra J. Tetarenko; Valeriu Tudose; Joern Wilms

doi:10.1126/science.abb3363

Cygnus X-1 contains a 21-solar mass black hole-Implications for massive star winds

James C.A. Miller-Jones, Arash Bahramian, Jerome A. Orosz, Ilya Mande, Lijun Gou, Thomas J. Maccarone, Coenraad J. Neijsse, Xueshan Zhao, Janusz Ziółkowski, Mark J. Reid, Phil Uttley, Xueying Zheng, Do Young Byun, Richard Dodson, Victoria Grinberg, Taehyun Jung, Jeong Sook Kim, Benito Marcote, Sera Markoff, Mariá J. RiojaAnthony P. Rushton, David M. Russell, Gregory R. Sivakoff, Alexandra J. Tetarenko, Valeriu Tudose, Joern Wilms

Physics

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Abstract

The evolution of massive stars is influenced by the mass lost to stellar winds over their lifetimes. These winds limit the masses of the stellar remnants (such as black holes) that the stars ultimately produce. We used radio astrometry to refine the distance to the black hole X-ray binary Cygnus X-1, which we found to be 2:220:180:17 kiloparsecs. When combined with archival optical data, this implies a black hole mass of 21.2 ± 2.2 solar masses, which is higher than previous measurements. The formation of such a high-mass black hole in a high-metallicity system (within the Milky Way) constrains wind mass loss from massive stars.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1046-1049
Number of pages	4
Journal	Science
Volume	371
Issue number	6533
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb3363
State	Published - Mar 5 2021

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Miller-Jones, J. C. A., Bahramian, A., Orosz, J. A., Mande, I., Gou, L., Maccarone, T. J., Neijsse, C. J., Zhao, X., Ziółkowski, J., Reid, M. J., Uttley, P., Zheng, X., Byun, D. Y., Dodson, R., Grinberg, V., Jung, T., Kim, J. S., Marcote, B., Markoff, S., ... Wilms, J. (2021). Cygnus X-1 contains a 21-solar mass black hole-Implications for massive star winds. Science, 371(6533), 1046-1049. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb3363

Miller-Jones, JCA, Bahramian, A, Orosz, JA, Mande, I, Gou, L, Maccarone, TJ, Neijsse, CJ, Zhao, X, Ziółkowski, J, Reid, MJ, Uttley, P, Zheng, X, Byun, DY, Dodson, R, Grinberg, V, Jung, T, Kim, JS, Marcote, B, Markoff, S, Rioja, MJ, Rushton, AP, Russell, DM, Sivakoff, GR, Tetarenko, AJ, Tudose, V & Wilms, J 2021, 'Cygnus X-1 contains a 21-solar mass black hole-Implications for massive star winds', Science, vol. 371, no. 6533, pp. 1046-1049. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb3363

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title = "Cygnus X-1 contains a 21-solar mass black hole-Implications for massive star winds",

abstract = "The evolution of massive stars is influenced by the mass lost to stellar winds over their lifetimes. These winds limit the masses of the stellar remnants (such as black holes) that the stars ultimately produce. We used radio astrometry to refine the distance to the black hole X-ray binary Cygnus X-1, which we found to be 2:220:180:17 kiloparsecs. When combined with archival optical data, this implies a black hole mass of 21.2 ± 2.2 solar masses, which is higher than previous measurements. The formation of such a high-mass black hole in a high-metallicity system (within the Milky Way) constrains wind mass loss from massive stars.",

author = "Miller-Jones, {James C.A.} and Arash Bahramian and Orosz, {Jerome A.} and Ilya Mande and Lijun Gou and Maccarone, {Thomas J.} and Neijsse, {Coenraad J.} and Xueshan Zhao and Janusz Zi{\'o}{\l}kowski and Reid, {Mark J.} and Phil Uttley and Xueying Zheng and Byun, {Do Young} and Richard Dodson and Victoria Grinberg and Taehyun Jung and Kim, {Jeong Sook} and Benito Marcote and Sera Markoff and Rioja, {Mari{\'a} J.} and Rushton, {Anthony P.} and Russell, {David M.} and Sivakoff, {Gregory R.} and Tetarenko, {Alexandra J.} and Valeriu Tudose and Joern Wilms",

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doi = "10.1126/science.abb3363",

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AU - Miller-Jones, James C.A.

AU - Bahramian, Arash

AU - Orosz, Jerome A.

AU - Mande, Ilya

AU - Gou, Lijun

AU - Maccarone, Thomas J.

AU - Neijsse, Coenraad J.

AU - Zhao, Xueshan

AU - Ziółkowski, Janusz

AU - Reid, Mark J.

AU - Uttley, Phil

AU - Zheng, Xueying

AU - Byun, Do Young

AU - Dodson, Richard

AU - Grinberg, Victoria

AU - Jung, Taehyun

AU - Kim, Jeong Sook

AU - Marcote, Benito

AU - Markoff, Sera

AU - Rioja, Mariá J.

AU - Rushton, Anthony P.

AU - Russell, David M.

AU - Sivakoff, Gregory R.

AU - Tetarenko, Alexandra J.

AU - Tudose, Valeriu

AU - Wilms, Joern

PY - 2021/3/5

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Cygnus X-1 contains a 21-solar mass black hole-Implications for massive star winds

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