Finding Galactic Black Holes
This is a short course I am offering during my stay at Tokyo Tech
- SR Kulkarni
Goal: The goal of this course is to identify as many different
methods by which stellar mass black holes in our Galaxy, either
singly or in binaries, can be found. Below the student can find
an initial list of different methods. Students are encouraged to
think imaginatively and supplement the list.
In the class we will walk through each proposed method and (1)
compute the expected signal strength and (2) identify which
facility/dataset/mission can discover black holes. The last step
will be to estimate the number of detections given a notional idea
of the BH population. This last step is almost aways quite hard and
can easily morph into a master's or PhD thesis. So we will consult
the literature at that point.
The search for
intermediate mass black holes in globular clusters is a cottage
industry in itself and is not a part of this mini course.
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Astrometry (Gaia)
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Massively multiplexed spectroscopy (LAMOST, SDSS Phase V, DESI)
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Black hole accreting from stellar wind (Cygnus X-1)
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Black hole accreting from disk (MAXI; A0620-00)
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Accretion of ISM (SKA,SRG)
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Ellipsoidal Modulation (ZTF, TESS) followed by radial velocity
(SDSS, DESI)
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Narrow & Wide-band H-alpha imaging (future ZTF project?)
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Strong lensing by a background star (OGLE, ZTF)
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Lensing of secondary star (orbital plane perpendicular to the plane of the sky)
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Variations in eclipse time (OGLE)
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Radio-X-ray "fundamental plane" relation (VLA, SRG)
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Sub-millimeter transients (future facility)
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Your method here
The class notes can be found at BH Class
Notes. These notes will lag the handwritten notes and
homeworks. But at the end of the course we all should have a nice
set of notes!
- Class 1: Astrometry (December 4, 2018)
We reviewed the basic
2-body problem and derived the expected astrometric signal. [Adachi,
Iida, Mamiya, Niwano]
- Class 2: Radial Velocity (December 11, 2018)
Students are expected
to present solutions to homework problems. Lecturer will lead
discussion of Radial Velocity method. Homework: Chapter 2, H3;
Chapter 3, E1 and E2. Also read
this tutorial on RVs. [Adachi, Mamiya, Niwano, Wang]
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Class 3: Wind-fed X-ray binaries (December 18, 2018)
Introduction to X-ray astronomy.
Homeworks: E1 and E2 in Chapter 2 and E1 and E2 in Chapter 4.
High Mass X-ray binaries (Cyg X1).
Historical puzzles resolved by understanding mass transfer & stellar winds.
[Wang, Oeda, Adachi, Mamiya, Niwano]
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Class 4: X-ray Novae (December 25, 2018)