Astron. Astrophys. 333, 583-590 (1998)

A census of low mass black hole binaries

Roger W. Romani

Universitäts-Sternwarte Göttingen, Geismarlandstr. 11, D-37083 Göttingen, Germany (rwr@astro.stanford.edu)

Received 6 October 1997 / Accepted 16 January 1998

Abstract

The six known low mass black hole binaries discovered as X-ray/Optical novae represent a relatively uniform source class. It is shown that the recurrence time for outbursts from these sources can be understood in the disk instability picture if magnetic braking is not active in the short period systems. An extrapolation from the discovery surveys gives an estimate of such systems in the Galaxy as a whole. BATSE sky monitor observations should produce new candidate black hole transients at a rate of /y. The population estimates also suggest that optical outbursts of black hole binaries prior to 1975 should have been recorded in classical nova catalogues. Some strategies for discovery of more black hole binaries are discussed.

Key words: black hole physics binaries: close novae, cataclysmic variables X-rays: stars Galaxy: stellar content

Send offprint requests to: R.W.Romani, Dept. of Physics, M.C. 4060, Stanford, CA 94350, USA

SIMBAD Objects

Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Properties of low mass black hole binaries
  • 2.1. X-ray outbursts: fluxes and spectra
  • 2.2. Optical outbursts
  • 2.3. Recurrence times
• 3. Galactic distribution, extinction
• 4. Survey sensitivity and coverage
• 5. The number of galactic low mass BHB systems
• 6. BH X/O transients masquerading as classical novae
• 7. Conclusions
• Acknowledgements
• References

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 1998

Online publication: April 20, 1998
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