SHAO Astrophysics Colloquia

Title: Formation of Galactic Black Hole Low-Mass X-ray Binaries

Speaker: Xiangdong Li (李向东教授, Nanjing University)

Time: 3:00 PM, Dec. 29 (Thursday)  

Location: Lecture Hall, 3rd floor  

Abstract: There are ~10⁸-10⁹ stellar-mass black holes (BHs) in our Galaxy, but only around 24 of them have been dynamically confirmed. These BHs are in X-ray binary systems, accreting from a companion star. Most of them are low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) with a low-mass donor star and a short orbital period. Although the formation of these systems has been extensively investigated, some crucial issues remain unresolved. The most noticeable ones are the mass gap of BHs and the survival of a low-mass companion during the common envelope process. In this talk I will discuss possible formation channels for BH LMXBs. In particular, it is possible to form BH LMXBs with the standard common envelope scenario if most BHs are born through failed supernovae.