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Register a new userConstraints on the Size of Extra Dimensions from the Orbital Evolution of the Black-Hole X-Ray Binary XTE J1118+480
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Tim Johannsen
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In a universe of the Randall-Sundrum type, black holes are unstable and emit gravitational modes in the extra dimension. This leads to dramatically shortened lifetimes of astrophysical black holes and to an observable change of the orbital period of black-hole binaries. I obtain an upper limit on the rate of change of the orbital period of the binary XTE J1118+480 and constrain the asymptotic curvature radius of the extra dimension to a value that is of the same order as the constraints from other astrophysical sources. A unique property of XTE J1118+480 is that the expected rate of change of the orbital period due to magnetic braking alone is so large that only one additional measurement of the orbital period would lead to the first detection of orbital evolution of a black-hole binary and impose the tightest constraint to date on the size of one extra dimension of the order of 35 microns.
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Optical spectra were obtained of the optical counterpart of the high latitude soft X-ray transient XTE J1118+480 near its quiescent state with the new 6.5 m MMT and the 4.2 m WHT. The spectrum exhibits broad, double-peaked, emission lines of hydrogen from an accretion disk superposed with absorption lines of a K7V-M0V secondary star. Cross-correlation of the 27 individual spectra with late-type stellar template spectra reveals a sinusoidal variation in radial velocity with amplitude K = 701 +/- 10 km/s and orbital period P = 0.169930 +/- 0.000004 d. The mass function, 6.1 +/- 0.3 solar masses, is a firm lower limit on the mass of the compact object and strongly implies that it is a black hole. Photometric observations (R-band) with the IAC 0.8 m telescope reveal ellipsoidal light variations of full amplitude 0.2 mag. Modeling gives a large mass ratio (M1/M2 ~ 20) and a high orbital inclination (i = 81 +/- 2 deg). Our combined fits yield a mass of the black hole in the range M1 = 6.0-7.7 solar masses (90% confidence) for plausible secondary star masses of M2 = 0.09-0.5 solar masses. The photometric period measured during the outburst is 0.5% longer than our orbital period and probably reflects superhump modulations as observed in some other soft X-ray transients. The estimated distance is d = 1.9 +/- 0.4 kpc corresponding to a height of 1.7 +/- 0.4 kpc above the Galactic plane. The spectroscopic, photometric, and dynamical results indicate that XTE J1118+480 is the first firmly identified black hole X-ray system in the Galactic halo.
Following the recent abundance measurements of Mg, Al, Ca, Fe, and Ni in the black hole X-ray binary XTE J1118+480 using medium-resolution Keck II/ESI spectra of the secondary star (Gonzalez Hernandez et al. 2006), we perform a detailed abundance analysis including the abundances of Si and Ti. These element abundances, higher than solar, indicate that the black hole in this system formed in a supernova event, whose nucleosynthetic products could pollute the atmosphere of the secondary star, providing clues on the possible formation region of the system, either Galactic halo, thick disk, or thin disk. We explore a grid of explosion models with different He core masses, metallicities, and geometries. Metal-poor models associated with a formation scenario in the Galactic halo provide unacceptable fits to the observed abundances, allowing us to reject a halo origin for this X-ray binary. The thick-disk scenario produces better fits, although they require substantial fallback and very efficient mixing processes between the inner layers of the explosion and the ejecta, making quite unlikely an origin in the thick disk. The best agreement between the model predictions and the observed abundances is obtained for metal-rich progenitor models. In particular, non-spherically symmetric models are able to explain, without strong assumptions of extensive fallback and mixing, the observed abundances. Moreover, asymmetric mass ejection in a supernova explosion could account for the required impulse necessary to launch the system from its formation region in the Galactic thin disk to its current halo orbit.
In recent years, an increasing number of proper motions have been measured for Galactic X-ray binaries. When supplemented with accurate determinations of the component masses, orbital period, and donor luminosity and effective temperature, these kinematical constraints harbor a wealth of information on the systems past evolution. The constraints on compact object progenitors and kicks derived from this are of immense value for understanding compact object formation and exposing common threads and fundamental differences between black hole and neutron star formation. Here, we present the results of such an analysis for the black hole X-ray binary XTE J1118+480. We present results from modeling the mass transfer phase, following the motion in the Galaxy back to the birth site of the black hole, and examining the dynamics of symmetric and asymmetric core-collapses of the black hole progenitor.
We present optical and infrared monitoring of the 2005 outburst of the halo black hole X-ray transient XTE J1118+480. We measured a total outburst amplitude of ~5.7+-0.1 mag in the R band and ~5 mag in the infrared J, H and K_s bands. The hardness ratio HR2 (5-12 keV/3-5 keV) from the RXTE/ASM data is 1.53+-0.02 at the peak of the outburst indicating a hard spectrum. Both the shape of the light curve and the ratio L_X (1-10 keV)/L_opt resemble the mini-outbursts observed in GRO J0422+32 and XTE J1859+226. During early decline, we find a 0.02-mag amplitude variation consistent with a superhump modulation, like the one observed during the 2000 outburst. Similarly, XTE J1118+480 displayed a double-humped ellipsoidal modulation distorted by a superhump wave when settled into a near-quiescence level, suggesting that the disk expanded to the 3:1 resonance radius after outburst where it remained until early quiescence. The system reached quiescence at R=19.02+-0.03 about three months after the onset of the outburst. The optical rise preceded the X-ray rise by at most 4 days. The spectral energy distributions (SEDs) at the different epochs during outburst are all quasi-power laws with F_nu proportional to nu^alpha increasing toward the blue. At the peak of the outburst we derived alpha=0.49+-0.04 for the optical data alone and alpha=0.1+-0.1 when fitting solely the infrared. This difference between the optical and the infrared SEDs suggests that the infrared is dominated by a different component (a jet?) whereas the optical is presumably showing the disk evolution.
We present contemporaneous, broadband, near-infrared spectroscopy (0.9-2.45 micron) and H-band photometry of the black hole X-ray binary, XTE J1118+480. We determined the fractional dilution of the NIR ellipsoidal light curves of the donor star from other emission sources in the system by comparing the absorption features in the spectrum with field stars of known spectral type. We constrained the donor star spectral type to K7 V - M1 V and determined that the donor star contributed 54+/-27% of the H-band flux at the epoch of our observations. This result underscores the conclusion that the donor star cannot be assumed to be the only NIR emission source in quiescent X-ray binaries. The H-band light curve shows a double-humped asymmetric modulation with extra flux at orbital phase 0.75. The light curve was fit with a donor star model light curve, taking into account a constant second flux component based on the dilution analysis. We also fit models that included emission from the donor star, a constant component from the accretion disk, and a phase-variable component from the bright spot where the mass accretion stream impacts the disk. These simple models with reasonable estimates for the component physical parameters can fully account for the observed light curve, including the extra emission at phase 0.75. From our fits, we constrained the binary inclination to 68 <= i <= 79 deg. This leads to a black hole mass of 6.9 <= M_BH <= 8.2 solar masses. Long-term variations in the NIR light curve shape in XTE J1118+480 are similar to those seen in other X-ray binaries and demonstrate the presence of continued activity and variability in these systems even when in full quiescence.
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