Progress in the Mass Measurement Studies of Black Hole X-ray Transients

Subjects: Astronomy submitted time 2025-07-02 Cooperative journals: 《天文学进展》

ZHOU Ao WU Jianfeng

Abstract： So far, a total of 72 black holes X-ray transients or candidates have been detect#2;ed, of which 19 have been dynamically confirmed. These transients are X-ray binary systems consisting of stellar-mass black holes and low-mass stars. Measurements of the fundamental parameters of stellar-mass black holes significantly aid our understanding of the formation and evolution of black holes, and also provide crucial evidences for ongoing debates in this regime, such as whether there exists a strict mass gap between stellar-mass black holes and neutron stars. This review introduces the fundamental theories of black hole X-ray binaries, discusses the commonly used methods and softwares in the mass measurements of stellar-mass black holes, and analyzes potential sources of errors in the dynamical model#2;ing processes. Finally, the statistical properties of the existing sample of black hole X-ray transients are summarized, and the future research prospects in this field are presented.

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