Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jiang, Jiachen
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.12507
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915026037637120
author Jiang, Jiachen
author_facet Jiang, Jiachen
contents Around 50 years ago, the famous bet between Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne on whether Cyg X-1 hosts a stellar-mass black hole became a well-known story in the history of black hole science. Today, Cyg X-1 is widely recognised as hosting a stellar-mass black hole with a mass of approximately 20 solar masses. With the advancement of X-ray telescopes, Cyg X-1 has become a prime laboratory for studies in stellar evolution, accretion physics, and high-energy plasma physics. In this review, we explore the latest results from X-ray observations of Cyg X-1, focusing on its implications for black hole spin, its role in stellar evolution, the geometry of the innermost accretion regions, and the plasma physics insights derived from its X-ray emissions. This review primarily focuses on Cyg X-1; however, the underlying physics applies to other black hole X-ray binaries and, to some extent, to AGNs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_12507
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Fifty Years After the Discovery of the First Stellar-Mass Black Hole: A Review of Cyg X-1
Jiang, Jiachen
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Around 50 years ago, the famous bet between Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne on whether Cyg X-1 hosts a stellar-mass black hole became a well-known story in the history of black hole science. Today, Cyg X-1 is widely recognised as hosting a stellar-mass black hole with a mass of approximately 20 solar masses. With the advancement of X-ray telescopes, Cyg X-1 has become a prime laboratory for studies in stellar evolution, accretion physics, and high-energy plasma physics. In this review, we explore the latest results from X-ray observations of Cyg X-1, focusing on its implications for black hole spin, its role in stellar evolution, the geometry of the innermost accretion regions, and the plasma physics insights derived from its X-ray emissions. This review primarily focuses on Cyg X-1; however, the underlying physics applies to other black hole X-ray binaries and, to some extent, to AGNs.
title Fifty Years After the Discovery of the First Stellar-Mass Black Hole: A Review of Cyg X-1
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.12507