Svoboda, J;
Dovčiak, M;
Steiner, JF;
Muleri, F;
Ingram, A;
Yilmaz, A;
Rodriguez Cavero, N;
... Tamagawa, T; + view all
(2023)
First X-Ray Polarization Measurement Confirms the Low Black Hole Spin in LMC X-3.
Astrophysical Journal
, 960
(1)
, Article 3. 10.3847/1538-4357/ad0842.
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Abstract
X-ray polarization is a powerful tool to investigate the geometry of accreting material around black holes, allowing independent measurements of the black hole spin and orientation of the innermost parts of the accretion disk. We perform X-ray spectropolarimetric analysis of an X-ray binary system in the Large Magellanic Cloud, LMC X-3, that hosts a stellar-mass black hole, known to be persistently accreting since its discovery. We report the first detection of the X-ray polarization in LMC X-3 with the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, and find the average polarization degree (PD) of 3.2% ± 0.6% and a constant polarization angle of −42° ± 6° over the 2-8 keV range. Using accompanying spectroscopic observations by NICER, NuSTAR, and the Neil Gehrels Swift observatories, we confirm previous measurements of the black hole spin via the X-ray continuum method, a ≈ 0.2. From polarization analysis only, we found consistent results with low black hole spin, with an upper limit of a < 0.7 at a 90% confidence level. A slight increase in the PD with energy, similar to other black hole X-ray binaries in the soft state, is suggested from the data but with a low statistical significance.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | First X-Ray Polarization Measurement Confirms the Low Black Hole Spin in LMC X-3 |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3847/1538-4357/ad0842 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad0842 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10185543 |
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