Bibcode
Corral-Santana, J. M.; Casares, J.; Munoz-Darias, T.; Tyndall, A. A.; Zurita, C.; Rodríguez-Gil, P.; Shahbaz, T.; Torres, M. A.
Bibliographical reference
Science, 339, 1048-1051 (2013)
Advertised on:
3
2013
Journal
Citations
89
Refereed citations
84
Description
Stellar-mass black holes (BHs) are mostly found in X-ray transients, a
subclass of X-ray binaries that exhibit violent outbursts. None of the
50 Galactic BHs known show eclipses, which is surprising for a random
distribution of inclinations. Swift J1357.2-0933 is a very faint X-ray
transient detected in 2011. On the basis of spectroscopic evidence, we
show that it contains a BH in a 2.8 h orbital period. Further, high-time
resolution optical light curves display profound dips without X-ray
counterparts. The observed properties are best explained by the presence
of an obscuring toroidal structure moving outwards in the inner disk
seen at very high inclination. This observational feature should play a
key role in models of inner accretion flows and jet collimation
mechanisms in stellar-mass BHs.
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