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A 6.5-day periodicity in the recurrent nova V404 Cygni implying the presence of a black hole

Nature volume 355, pages 614–617 (1992)Cite this article

Abstract

THE X-ray transient source GS2023 + 338 was discovered in out-burst by the Ginga satellite in 1989 (ref. 1) and has since been identified with the previously known recurrent nova V404 Cygni2. This system is recognized to be a low-mass X-ray binary3, with X-ray behaviour similar to black hole systems4, but attempts to deduce an orbital period from photometry5–9 and spectroscopy10,11 have yielded modulations with periods from 10 minutes to 6 hours. Two years after the outburst, we have used the William Herschel Telescope to find absorption features in V404 Cyg characteristic of a late G or early K star with a radial velocity curve of amplitude 211 ± 4km s−1 and period 6.473 ± 0.001 days. The deduced mass function of 6.26±0.31 M⊙ is a firm lower limit to the mass of the compact object, which for reasonable assumptions of orbital inclination and companion star mass must be a black hole with probable mass in the range 8–15.5 M⊙. We consider this the most persuasive case yet for the existence of a black hole.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. T. Naylor

    Present address: Department of Physics, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, 38200 La, Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

    J. Casares

  2. Royal Greenwich Observatory, Apartado 321, 38780, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Tenerife, Canary Islands

    P. A. Charles

  3. Department of Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics Building, Keble Road, Oxford, 0X1 3RH, UK

    P. A. Charles

  4. Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHA, UK

    T. Naylor

Authors
  1. J. Casares
  2. P. A. Charles
  3. T. Naylor

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Casares, J., Charles, P. & Naylor, T. A 6.5-day periodicity in the recurrent nova V404 Cygni implying the presence of a black hole. Nature 355, 614–617 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/355614a0

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