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The Mass Distribution of Stellar Black Holes

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© 1998. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
, , Citation Charles D. Bailyn et al 1998 ApJ 499 367 DOI 10.1086/305614

0004-637X/499/1/367

Abstract

We examine the distribution of masses of black holes in transient low-mass X-ray binary systems. A Bayesian analysis suggests that it is probable that six of the seven systems with measured mass functions have black hole masses clustered near seven solar masses. There appears to be a significant gap between the masses of these systems and those of the observed neutron stars. The remaining source, V404 Cyg, has a mass significantly larger than the others, and our analysis suggests that it is probably drawn from a different distribution. Selection effects do not appear to play a role in producing the observed mass distribution, which may be explained by currently unknown details of the supernova explosions and of binary evolution prior to the supernova.

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10.1086/305614