NuSTAR and Swift observations of the very high state in GX 339-4: Weighing the black hole with X-rays
Abstract
We present results from spectral fitting of the very high state of GX 339-4 with Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and Swift. We use relativistic reflection modeling to measure the spin of the black hole and inclination of the inner disk and find a spin of ɑ = 0.95^(+0.02)_(-0.08) and inclination of 30° ± 1° (statistical errors). These values agree well with previous results from reflection modeling. With the exceptional sensitivity of NuSTAR at the high-energy side of the disk spectrum, we are able to constrain multiple physical parameters simultaneously using continuum fitting. By using the constraints from reflection as input for the continuum fitting method, we invert the conventional fitting procedure to estimate the mass and distance of GX 339-4 using just the X-ray spectrum, finding a mass of 9.0^(+1.6)_(-1.2) M_☉ and distance of 8.4 ± 0.9 kpc (statistical errors).
Additional Information
© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. Received 2015 October 14; accepted 2016 March 10; published 2016 April 7. We are grateful to the referee for detailed and thoughtful comments that have significantly improved the paper. M.L.P. acknowledges financial support from the STFC. P.R. acknowledges financial contribution from ASI-INAF I/004/11/0 and ASI-INAF I/037/12/0. This work made use of data from the NuSTAR mission, a project led by the California Institute of Technology, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and funded by NASA. This research has made use of the NuSTAR Data Analysis Software (NuSTARDAS) jointly developed by the ASI Science Data Center and the California Institute of Technology.Attached Files
Published - apjl_821_1_L6.pdf
Submitted - 1603.03777v1.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 65501
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20160321-073930769
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- I/004/11/0
- Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
- I/037/12/0
- Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI)
- Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)
- NASA/JPL/Caltech
- Created
-
2016-03-31Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- NuSTAR, Space Radiation Laboratory
- Other Numbering System Name
- Space Radiation Laboratory
- Other Numbering System Identifier
- 2016-02