On the signature of a 70-solar-mass black hole in LB-1

04-2020

Abdul-Masih, M.; Banyard, G.; Bodensteiner, J.; Bordier, E.; Bowman, D. M.; ... ;Van Winckel, H.; Vermeylen, L.; Sana, H.

Abstract :

Liu et al. (2019) recently reported the detection of a 68 [+11/-13] solar mass (Msun) black hole (BH) paired with an 8.2 [+0.9/-1.2] Msun B-type sub-giant star in the 78.9-day spectroscopic binary system LB-1. Such a black hole is over twice as massive as any other known stellar-mass black hole with non-compact companions2 and its mass approaches those that result from BH-BH coalescences that are detected by gravitational wave interferometers. Its presence in a solar-like metallicity environment challenges conventional theories of massive binary evolution, stellar winds and core-collapse supernovae, so that more exotic scenarios seem to be needed to explain the existence and properties of LB-1. Here, we show that the observational diagnostics used to derive the BH mass results from the orbital motion of the B-type star, not that of the BH. As a consequence, no evidence for a massive BH remains in the data, therefore solving the existing tension with formation models of such a massive BH at solar metallicity and with theories of massive star evolution in general.

Publication : Nature, Volume 580, Issue 7805, p.E11-E15
DOI : 10.1038/s41586-020-2216-x
Bibcode : 2020Natur.580E..11A
Keywords : Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Comments : LB-1 is LS V +22 25 in SIMBAD.

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