Estimating the Spin of Stellar-Mass Black Holes by Spectral Fitting of the X-Ray Continuum
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- 30 December 2005
- journal article
- Published by American Astronomical Society in The Astrophysical Journal
- Vol. 636 (2) , L113-L116
- https://doi.org/10.1086/498938
Abstract
We fit X-ray spectral data in the thermal dominant or high soft state of two dynamically confirmed black holes, GRO J1655-40 and 4U 1543-47, and estimate the dimensionless spin parameters a* = a/M of the two holes. For GRO J1655-40, using a spectral hardening factor computed for a non-LTE relativistic accretion disk, we estimate a* ~ 0.75 and ~ 0.65-0.75, respectively, from ASCA and RXTE data. For 4U 1543-47, we estimate a* ~ 0.75-0.85 from RXTE data. Thus, neither black hole has a spin approaching the theoretical maximum a* = 1.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters, 13 pages, 3 figures; revised to include effects of power-law spectral component; spin estimates slightly loweKeywords
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