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Measuring the Masses of Compact Objects in Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2018

Dawn M. Gelino*
Affiliation:
Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California San Diego, MSC 0421, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0424 (dgelino@ucsd.edu)

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Low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) contain compact, black hole (BH) or neutron star (NS) primaries, and cool, low-mass secondary stars. We measure the orbital inclination of the system in quiescence by modeling infrared (IR) ellipsoidal variations from the secondary star in order to determine the compact object mass. I present our results for a few LMXBs, including the first BH that appears to conclusively fall in the 3-5 M range.

Type
The Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Instituto de astronomia/revista mexicana de astronomίa y astrofίsica 2004