X-ray binaries powered by massive stellar black holes

TL;DR

This paper investigates how massive stellar black holes (over 25 solar masses) form and evolve in dense star clusters and their impact on X-ray source populations, using N-body simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a study of the formation and evolution of massive stellar black holes in star clusters and their influence on X-ray sources, which is a novel focus.

Findings

Massive stellar black holes can form in low-metallicity environments.

MSBHs significantly affect the population of X-ray sources.

Simulations show the dynamical role of MSBHs in star clusters.

Abstract

The mass of stellar black holes (BHs) is currently thought to be in the 3-20 Msun range, but is highly uncertain: recent observations indicate the existence of at least one BH with mass >20 Msun. The metallicity of the progenitor star strongly influences the mass of the remnant, as only metal-poor stars can have a final mass higher than ~40 Msun, and are expected to directly collapse into BHs with mass >25 Msun. By means of N-body simulations, we investigate the formation and evolution of massive stellar BHs (MSBHs, with mass >25 Msun) in young dense star clusters. We study the effects of MSBHs on the population of X-ray sources.