Formation of a Black Hole in the Dark

2003/05/12 by I. F. Mirabel, Felix Mirabel, I. Rodrigues +1 · 13 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.1083451

published as Science 300 (2003) 1119-1120 · 8 pages, 1 color figure, PDF version only. Link to the comments article in Science Now: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2003/424/2

arxiv created 2003/05/12 · openalex publication_date 2003/05/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We show that the black hole in the x-ray binary Cygnus X-1 was formed in situ and did not receive an energetic trigger from a nearby supernova. The progenitor of the black hole had an initial mass greater than 40 solar masses, and during the collapse to form the approximately 10-solar mass black hole of Cygnus X-1, the upper limit for the mass that could have been suddenly ejected is approximately 1 solar mass, much less than the mass ejected in a supernova. The observations suggest that high-mass stellar black holes may form promptly, when massive stars disappear silently.

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