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The black hole transient Nova Scorpii 1994 (equals GRO J1655-40): Orbital ephemeris and optical light curve
Citation
van der Hooft, F and Groot, PJ and Shahbaz, T and Augusteijn, T and Casares, J and Dieters, S and Greenhill, JG and Hill, KM and Scheers, LHA and Naber, RM and de Jong, JA and Charles, PA and van Paradijs, J, The black hole transient Nova Scorpii 1994 (equals GRO J1655-40): Orbital ephemeris and optical light curve, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 286, (4) pp. L43-L49. ISSN 0035-8711 (1997) [Refereed Article]
DOI: doi:10.1093/mnras/286.4.L43
Abstract
We have measured the brightness of the optical counterpart of the black hole X-ray binary Nova Sco 1994 (GRO J1655-40) during 40 nights between 1995 May 3 and July 27. From our observations and data from the literature we refine the orbital period to be 2.620 40 ± 0.000 98 d. We model the R-band light curve as primarily arising from an X-ray heated secondary, using a model that includes a Roche lobe filling secondary star, the effects of X-ray heating on both the concave accretion disc and the X-ray illuminated surface of the secondary, shadowing of the secondary and disc, and mutual eclipses of the disc and the secondary star. From the shape of the light curve we constrain the inclination of the system to lie in the range 65°-76° and constrain the mass ratio q = M1/M2 to lie in the range 3.8-5.5. This implies a mass range for the secondary star and compact object of 0.95-1.8 M⊙ and 4.9-6.8 M⊙, respectively. The (V-R) and (R-i) colour curves do not show evidence of significant variability with orbital phase during 1995 June-July, their average values being 1.06(3) and 0.86(2) mag, respectively. © 1997 RAS.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Research Division: | Physical Sciences |
Research Group: | Astronomical sciences |
Research Field: | Galactic astronomy |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the physical sciences |
UTAS Author: | Greenhill, JG (Dr John Greenhill) |
UTAS Author: | Hill, KM (Dr Kym Hill) |
ID Code: | 10555 |
Year Published: | 1997 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 15 |
Deposited By: | Physics |
Deposited On: | 1997-08-01 |
Last Modified: | 2011-08-11 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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