TY - JOUR
T1 - Formation of the black-hole binary M33 X-7 through mass exchange in a tight massive system
AU - Valsecchi, F.
AU - Farr, W.M.
AU - Fragos, T.
AU - Willems, B.
AU - Kalogera, V.
AU - Glebbeek, E.
AU - Orosz, J.A.
AU - Liu, J.
PY - 2010/11/4
Y1 - 2010/11/4
N2 - The X-ray source M33 X-7 in the nearby galaxy Messier 33 is among the most massive X-ray binary stellar systems known, hosting a rapidly spinning, 15.65M ™ black hole orbiting an underluminous, 70M ™ main-sequence companion in a slightly eccentric 3.45-day orbit (M ™, solar mass). Although post-main-sequence mass transfer explains the masses and tight orbit, it leaves unexplained the observed X-ray luminosity, the star's underluminosity, the black hole's spin and the orbital eccentricity. A common envelope phase, or rotational mixing, could explain the orbit, but the former would lead to a merger and the latter to an overluminous companion. A merger would also ensue if mass transfer to the black hole were invoked for its spin-up. Here we report simulations of evolutionary tracks which reveal that if M33 X-7 started as a primary body of 85M ™ 99M ™ and a secondary body of 28M ™ 32M ™, in a 2.8 3.1-d orbit, its observed properties can be consistently explained. In this model, the main-sequence primary transfers part of its envelope to the secondary and loses the rest in a wind; it ends its life as a 1/416M ™ helium star with an irong-nickel core that collapses to a black hole (with or without an accompanying supernova). The release of binding energy, and possibly collapse asymmetries, kickg ™ the nascent black hole into an eccentric orbit. Wind accretion explains the X-ray luminosity, and the black-hole spin can be natal.
AB - The X-ray source M33 X-7 in the nearby galaxy Messier 33 is among the most massive X-ray binary stellar systems known, hosting a rapidly spinning, 15.65M ™ black hole orbiting an underluminous, 70M ™ main-sequence companion in a slightly eccentric 3.45-day orbit (M ™, solar mass). Although post-main-sequence mass transfer explains the masses and tight orbit, it leaves unexplained the observed X-ray luminosity, the star's underluminosity, the black hole's spin and the orbital eccentricity. A common envelope phase, or rotational mixing, could explain the orbit, but the former would lead to a merger and the latter to an overluminous companion. A merger would also ensue if mass transfer to the black hole were invoked for its spin-up. Here we report simulations of evolutionary tracks which reveal that if M33 X-7 started as a primary body of 85M ™ 99M ™ and a secondary body of 28M ™ 32M ™, in a 2.8 3.1-d orbit, its observed properties can be consistently explained. In this model, the main-sequence primary transfers part of its envelope to the secondary and loses the rest in a wind; it ends its life as a 1/416M ™ helium star with an irong-nickel core that collapses to a black hole (with or without an accompanying supernova). The release of binding energy, and possibly collapse asymmetries, kickg ™ the nascent black hole into an eccentric orbit. Wind accretion explains the X-ray luminosity, and the black-hole spin can be natal.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-78149285833&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/nature09463
DO - 10.1038/nature09463
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:78149285833
SN - 0028-0836
VL - 468
SP - 77
EP - 79
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
IS - 7320
ER -