1. An isolated stellar-mass black hole detected through astrometric microlensing
- Author
-
Sahu, KC, Anderson, J, Casertano, S, Bond, HE, Udalski, A, Dominik, M, Calamida, A, Bellini, A, Brown, TM, Rejkuba, M, Bajaj, V, Kains, N, Ferguson, HC, Fryer, CL, Yock, P, Mroz, P, Kozlowski, S, Pietrukowicz, P, Poleski, R, Skowron, J, Soszynski, I, Szymanski, MK, Ulaczyk, K, Wyrzykowski, L, Barry, R, Bennett, DP, Bond, IA, Hirao, Y, Silva, SI, Kondo, I, Koshimoto, N, Ranc, C, Rattenbury, NJ, Sumi, T, Suzuki, D, Tristram, PJ, Vandorou, A, Beaulieu, J-P, Marquette, J-B, Cole, A, Fouque, P, Hill, K, Dieters, S, Coutures, C, Dominis-Prester, D, Bennett, C, Bachelet, E, Menzies, J, Albrow, M, Pollard, K, Gould, A, Yee, J, Allen, W, Almeida, LA de, Christie, G, Drummond, J, Gal-Yam, A, Gorbikov, E, Jablonski, F, Lee, C-U, Maoz, D, Manulis, I, McCormick, J, Natusch, T, Pogge, RW, Shvartzvald, Y, Jorgensen, UG, Alsubai, KA, Andersen, MI, Bozza, V, Novati, SC, Hinse, TC, Hundertmark, M, Husser, T-O, Kerins, E, Longa-Pena, P, Mancini, L, Penny, M, Rahvar, S, Ricci, D, Sajadian, S, Skottfelt, J, Snodgrass, C, Southworth, J, Tregloan-Reed, J, Wambsganss, J, Wertz, O, Tsapras, Y, Street, RA, Bramich, DM, Horne, K, Steele, IA, STScI, PSU, Warsaw, Univ, Andrews, Univ St, ESO, Columbia, Univ, Lab, Los Alamos Nat, Auckland, Univ, Warwick, Univ, Centre, NASA Goddard Space Flight, Maryland, Univ, Univ, Massey, Univ, Osaka, America, Catholic Univ of, Heidelberg, Univ, Obs, Mt John, Zealand, New, Tasmania, Univ, Paris, IAP, Bordeaux, Univ, Toulouse, Univ, Japan, Nat Astron Obs, MIT, Obs, Las Cumbres, SAAO, Africa, South, Canterbury, Univ, Astronomy, Max-Planck-Inst for, Heidelberg, Univ, Ohio State, CfA, Cambridge, Obs, Vintage Lane, Norte, Univ Federal do Rio Grande do, Natal, Brazil, Mossoró, Obs, Auckland, Obs, Possum, Queensland, Univ Southern, Australia, Sci, Weizmann Inst of, Univ, Tel-Aviv, Israel, Espacias, Inst Nacional de Pesquisas, Astron, Korea, Inst, Space Sci, Sci, Weizmann Inst, Obs, Farm Cove, IRASR, Copenhagen, Univ, QEERI, Doha, Qatar, Denmark, Salerno, Univ, Italy, Napoli, INFN, IPAC, Pasadena, Toruń, Nicolaus Copernicus Univ, Univ, Chungnam Nat, Korea, South, Göttingen, Univ, Germany, Astroph, Jodrell Bank Centre, Manchester, Antofagasta, Univ, Rome, Univ, Turin, INAF, Univ, Louisiana State, Tech, Sharif Univ of, Tehran, Padova, INAF, Tech, Isfahan Univ, Univ, Open, Keynes, Milton, Edinburgh, Univ, Univ, Keele, Atacama, Univ, Chile, Liège, Univ, Dhabi, NY Univ Abu, Univ, Liverpool John Moores, Collaboration, OGLE, Collaboration, MOA, Collaboration, PLANET, Collaboration, microFUN, Consortium, MiNDSTEp, Collaboration, RoboNet, ITA, USA, GBR, European Commission, University of St Andrews. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews. St Andrews Centre for Exoplanet Science, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux [Pessac] (LAB), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie (IRAP), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (IAP), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and ANR-18-CE31-0002,COLD-WORLDS,Statistiques des planètes proches de leur lieu de formation et leur distribution dans le disque et la barre de notre Galaxie(2018)
- Subjects
GRAVITATIONAL LENS ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,FOS: Physical sciences ,PARALLAX ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Gravitational microlensing ,EVENTS ,Black holes ,162 ,672 ,Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,PHOTOMETRY ,QB Astronomy ,Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,QC ,QB ,High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,MCC ,[SDU.ASTR]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,STAR ,Settore FIS/05 ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,BINARY ,3rd-DAS ,EVOLUTION ,QC Physics ,DEFLECTION ,RESOLUTION ,[SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] ,Space and Planetary Science ,Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Block holes ,PLANETS - Abstract
We report the first unambiguous detection and mass measurement of an isolated stellar-mass black hole (BH). We used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to carry out precise astrometry of the source star of the long-duration (t_E~270 days), high-magnification microlensing event MOA-2011-BLG-191/OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 (hereafter designated as MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462), in the direction of the Galactic bulge. HST imaging, conducted at eight epochs over an interval of six years, reveals a clear relativistic astrometric deflection of the background star's apparent position. Ground-based photometry of MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462 shows a parallactic signature of the effect of the Earth's motion on the microlensing light curve. Combining the HST astrometry with the ground-based light curve and the derived parallax, we obtain a lens mass of 7.1 +/- 1.3 Msun and a distance of 1.58 +/- 0.18 kpc. We show that the lens emits no detectable light, which, along with having a mass higher than is possible for a white dwarf or neutron star, confirms its BH nature. Our analysis also provides an absolute proper motion for the BH. The proper motion is offset from the mean motion of Galactic-disk stars at similar distances by an amount corresponding to a transverse space velocity of ~45 km/s, suggesting that the BH received a 'natal kick' from its supernova explosion. Previous mass determinations for stellar-mass BHs have come from radial-velocity measurements of Galactic X-ray binaries, and from gravitational radiation emitted by merging BHs in binary systems in external galaxies. Our mass measurement is the first for an isolated stellar-mass BH using any technique., 37 pages, Published in ApJ
- Published
- 2022