Cygnus X-1 contains a 21–solar mass black hole—Implications for massive star winds

James C. A. Miller-Jones; Arash Bahramian; Jerome A. Orosz; Ilya Mandel; Lijun Gou; Thomas J. Maccarone; Coenraad J. Neijssel; Xueshan Zhao; Janusz Ziółkowski; Mark J. Reid; Phil Uttley; Xueying Zheng; Do-Young Byun; Richard Dodson; Victoria Grinberg; Taehyun Jung; Jeong-Sook Kim; Benito Marcote; Sera Markoff; María J. Rioja; Anthony P. Rushton; David M. Russell; Gregory R. Sivakoff; Alexandra J. Tetarenko; Valeriu Tudose; Joern Wilms

doi:10.1126/science.abb3363

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Cygnus X-1 contains a 21–solar mass black hole—Implications for massive star winds

View ORCID ProfileJames C. A. Miller-Jones ¹,*,
View ORCID ProfileArash Bahramian¹,
View ORCID ProfileJerome A. Orosz²,
View ORCID ProfileIlya Mandel ³,⁴,⁵,
View ORCID ProfileLijun Gou ⁶,⁷,
View ORCID ProfileThomas J. Maccarone ⁸,
View ORCID ProfileCoenraad J. Neijssel³,⁴,⁵,
View ORCID ProfileXueshan Zhao⁶,⁷,
View ORCID ProfileJanusz Ziółkowski ⁹,
View ORCID ProfileMark J. Reid¹⁰,
View ORCID ProfilePhil Uttley¹¹,
View ORCID ProfileXueying Zheng⁶,⁷,†,
View ORCID ProfileDo-Young Byun¹²,¹³,
View ORCID ProfileRichard Dodson¹⁴,
View ORCID ProfileVictoria Grinberg ¹⁵,
View ORCID ProfileTaehyun Jung¹²,¹³,
View ORCID ProfileJeong-Sook Kim¹²,
View ORCID ProfileBenito Marcote ¹⁶,
View ORCID ProfileSera Markoff ¹¹,¹⁷,
View ORCID ProfileMaría J. Rioja¹⁴,¹⁸,¹⁹,
View ORCID ProfileAnthony P. Rushton²⁰,²¹,
View ORCID ProfileDavid M. Russell²²,
View ORCID ProfileGregory R. Sivakoff ²³,
View ORCID ProfileAlexandra J. Tetarenko²⁴,
View ORCID ProfileValeriu Tudose ²⁵,
View ORCID ProfileJoern Wilms ²⁶

¹International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research–Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia.
²Astronomy Department, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-1221, USA.
³School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
⁴OzGrav: The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, Australia.
⁵School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
⁶Key Laboratory for Computational Astrophysics, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.
⁷University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.
⁸Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-1051, USA.
⁹N. Copernicus Astronomical Center, PL-00-716 Warsaw, Poland.
¹⁰Center for Astrophysics, Harvard and Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
¹¹Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands.
¹²Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 34055, Republic of Korea.
¹³University of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea.
¹⁴International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research–The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
¹⁵Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Universität Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
¹⁶Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, Netherlands.
¹⁷Gravitation and Astroparticle Physics Physics Amsterdam Institute, University of Amsterdam, NL-1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands.
¹⁸Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Astronomy and Space Science, Perth, Western Australia 6102, Australia.
¹⁹Observatorio Astronómico Nacional, Instituto Geográfico Nacional, 28014 Madrid, Spain.
²⁰Department of Physics, Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK.
²¹School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
²²Center for Astro, Particle and Planetary Physics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
²³Department of Physics, Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada.
²⁴East Asian Observatory, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.
²⁵Institute for Space Sciences, 077125 Bucharest-Magurele, Romania.
²⁶Dr. Karl Remeis-Sternwarte and Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 96049, Bamberg, Germany.

↵*Corresponding author. E-mail: james.miller-jones{at}curtin.edu.au

↵† Present address: Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, D-85748 Garching, Germany.

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Science 18 Feb 2021:
eabb3363
DOI: 10.1126/science.abb3363

James C. A. Miller-Jones

1International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research–Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia.

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For correspondence: james.miller-jones@curtin.edu.au

Arash Bahramian

1International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research–Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia 6845, Australia.

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Jerome A. Orosz

2Astronomy Department, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-1221, USA.

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Ilya Mandel

3School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.

4OzGrav: The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, Australia.

5School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.

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Lijun Gou

6Key Laboratory for Computational Astrophysics, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.

7University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.

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Thomas J. Maccarone

8Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-1051, USA.

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Coenraad J. Neijssel

3School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.

4OzGrav: The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, Australia.

5School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.

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Xueshan Zhao

6Key Laboratory for Computational Astrophysics, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.

7University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.

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Janusz Ziółkowski

9N. Copernicus Astronomical Center, PL-00-716 Warsaw, Poland.

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Mark J. Reid

10Center for Astrophysics, Harvard and Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

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Phil Uttley

11Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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Xueying Zheng

6Key Laboratory for Computational Astrophysics, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.

7University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012, China.

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Do-Young Byun

12Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 34055, Republic of Korea.

13University of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea.

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Richard Dodson

14International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research–The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.

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Victoria Grinberg

15Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Universität Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.

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Taehyun Jung

12Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 34055, Republic of Korea.

13University of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea.

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Jeong-Sook Kim

12Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, Daejeon 34055, Republic of Korea.

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Benito Marcote

16Joint Institute for Very Long Baseline Interferometry European Research Infrastructure Consortium, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, Netherlands.

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Sera Markoff

11Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands.

17Gravitation and Astroparticle Physics Physics Amsterdam Institute, University of Amsterdam, NL-1098 XH Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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María J. Rioja

14International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research–The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.

18Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Astronomy and Space Science, Perth, Western Australia 6102, Australia.

19Observatorio Astronómico Nacional, Instituto Geográfico Nacional, 28014 Madrid, Spain.

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Anthony P. Rushton

20Department of Physics, Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH, UK.

21School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.

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David M. Russell

22Center for Astro, Particle and Planetary Physics, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

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Gregory R. Sivakoff

23Department of Physics, Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1, Canada.

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Alexandra J. Tetarenko

24East Asian Observatory, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.

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Valeriu Tudose

25Institute for Space Sciences, 077125 Bucharest-Magurele, Romania.

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Joern Wilms

26Dr. Karl Remeis-Sternwarte and Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 96049, Bamberg, Germany.

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Abstract

The evolution of massive stars is influenced by the mass lost to stellar winds over their lifetimes. These winds limit the masses of the stellar remnants (such as black holes) that the stars ultimately produce. We use radio astrometry to refine the distance to the black hole X-ray binary Cygnus X-1, which we find to be 2.22−0.17+0.18 kiloparsecs. When combined with archival optical data, this implies a black hole mass of 21.2 ± 2.2 solar masses, higher than previous measurements. The formation of such a high-mass black hole in a high-metallicity system (within the Milky Way) constrains wind mass loss from massive stars.

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Cygnus X-1 contains a 21–solar mass black hole—Implications for massive star winds

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