Estimation of Mass of the Black Hole Candidate MAXI J1659-152 using TCAF and POS Models

TL;DR

This paper estimates the mass of the black hole candidate MAXI J1659-152 during its 2010 outburst using TCAF spectral modeling and POS QPO analysis, resulting in a most probable mass range of 4.7-7.8 solar masses.

Contribution

It introduces two independent methods for black hole mass estimation during an outburst, combining spectral and timing analysis for improved accuracy.

Findings

Mass range from TCAF normalization method: 4.7-7.8 M_sun

Mass range from QPO evolution method: 5.1-7.4 M_sun

Most probable mass estimate: 6^{+1.8}_{-1.3} M_sun

Abstract

The Galactic transient black hole candidate (BHC) MAXI~J1659-152 exhibited temporal and spectral evolution during its very first X-ray outburst (2010) after its discovery on 25th Sept. 2010. Our recent studies of a few transient BHCs including MAXI~J1659-152 using Chakrabarti-Titarchuk two-component advective flow (TCAF) solution as an additive table local model in XSPEC revealed details of accretion flow dynamics around the black hole (BH). The TCAF model fitted normalization (N) comes out to be almost constant throughout the entire outburst consisting of several spectral states. We introduce two independent methods to determine the mass ($M_{BH}$) of the BHC, namely, {\it $i)$ keeping TCAF fitted normalization parameter in a narrow range}, and {\it $ii)$ studying evolution of the Quasi-Periodic Oscillation frequency ($\nu_{QPO}$) with time, fitted with the propagating oscillatory shock (POS) model}. The predicted mass ranges of the source with these two methods are $4.7-7.8~M_\odot$, and $5.1-7.4~M_\odot$ respectively. Combining results of these two methods, we obtain a most probable mass range of the source to be $4.7-7.8~M_\odot$ or $6^{+1.8}_{-1.3}~M_\odot$.