Work

Advection-dominated Accretion and Black Hole Event Horizons

Year: 1997

Type: article

Abstract: The defining characteristic of a black hole is that it possesses an event horizon through which matter and energy can fall in but from which nothing escapes. Soft X-ray transients (SXTs), a class of X-ray binaries, appear to confirm this fundamental property of black holes. SXTs that are thought to contain accreting black holes display a large variation of luminosity between their bright and their faint states, while SXTs with accreting neutron stars have a smaller variation. This difference is predicted if the former stars have horizons, and the latter have normal surfaces.

Source: The Astrophysical Journal

DOI: 10.1086/310554

Authors: Ramesh Narayan, Michael R. Garcia, Jeffrey E. McClintock

Institution: Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian

Language: English

Topic: Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: Smithsonian Institution, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center

OpenAlex ID: W2595866903

FWCI: 11.86

Cites: 26

Cited by: 244

Related to: 8