An isolated stellar-mass black hole detected through astrometric microlensing

Kailash C. Sahu; Jay Anderson; Stefano Casertano; Howard E. Bond; Andrzej Udalski; Martin Dominik; Annalisa Calamida; Andrea Bellini; Thomas M. Brown; Marina Rejkuba; Varun Bajaj; Noé Kains; Henry C. Ferguson; Chris L. Fryer; Philip Yock; Przemek Mróz; Szymon Kozłowski; Paweł Pietrukowicz; Radek Poleski; Jan Skowron; Igor Soszyński; Michał K. Szymański; Krzysztof Ulaczyk; Łukasz Wyrzykowski; Richard K. Barry; David P. Bennett; Ian A. Bond; Yuki Hirao; Stela Ishitani Silva; Iona Kondo; Naoki Koshimoto; Clément Ranc; Nicholas J. Rattenbury; Takahiro Sumi; Daisuke Suzuki; Paul J. Tristram; Aikaterini Vandorou; Jean-Philippe Beaulieu; Jean-Baptiste Marquette; Andrew Cole; Pascal Fouqué; Kym Hill; Stefan Dieters; Christian Coutures; Dijana Dominis-Prester; Clara Bennett; Etienne Bachelet; John Menzies; Michael Albrow; Karen Pollard; Andrew Gould; Jennifer C. Yee; William Allen; Leonardo A. Almeida; Grant Christie; John Drummond; Avishay Gal-Yam; Evgeny Gorbikov; Francisco Jablonski; Chung-Uk Lee; Dan Maoz; Ilan Manulis; Jennie McCormick; Tim Natusch; Richard W. Pogge; Yossi Shvartzvald; Uffe G. Jørgensen; Khalid A. Alsubai; Michael I. Andersen; Valerio Bozza; Sebastiano Calchi Novati; Martin Burgdorf; Tobias C. Hinse; Markus Hundertmark; Tim-Oliver Husser; Eamonn Kerins; Penelope Longa-Peña; Luigi Mancini; Matthew Penny; Sohrab Rahvar; Davide Ricci; Sedighe Sajadian; Jesper Skottfelt; Colin Snodgrass; John Southworth; Jeremy Tregloan-Reed; Joachim Wambsganss; Olivier Wertz; Yiannis Tsapras; Rachel A. Street; D. M. Bramich; Keith Horne; Iain A. Steele

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ac739e

An isolated stellar-mass black hole detected through astrometric microlensing

Kailash C. Sahu^*, Jay Anderson, Stefano Casertano, Howard E. Bond, Andrzej Udalski, Martin Dominik, Annalisa Calamida, Andrea Bellini, Thomas M. Brown, Marina Rejkuba, Varun Bajaj, Noé Kains, Henry C. Ferguson, Chris L. Fryer, Philip Yock, Przemek Mróz, Szymon Kozłowski, Paweł Pietrukowicz, Radek Poleski, Jan SkowronIgor Soszyński, Michał K. Szymański, Krzysztof Ulaczyk, Łukasz Wyrzykowski, Richard K. Barry, David P. Bennett, Ian A. Bond, Yuki Hirao, Stela Ishitani Silva, Iona Kondo, Naoki Koshimoto, Clément Ranc, Nicholas J. Rattenbury, Takahiro Sumi, Daisuke Suzuki, Paul J. Tristram, Aikaterini Vandorou, Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, Jean-Baptiste Marquette, Andrew Cole, Pascal Fouqué, Kym Hill, Stefan Dieters, Christian Coutures, Dijana Dominis-Prester, Clara Bennett, Etienne Bachelet, John Menzies, Michael Albrow, Karen Pollard, Andrew Gould, Jennifer C. Yee, William Allen, Leonardo A. Almeida, Grant Christie, John Drummond, Avishay Gal-Yam, Evgeny Gorbikov, Francisco Jablonski, Chung-Uk Lee, Dan Maoz, Ilan Manulis, Jennie McCormick, Tim Natusch, Richard W. Pogge, Yossi Shvartzvald, Uffe G. Jørgensen, Khalid A. Alsubai, Michael I. Andersen, Valerio Bozza, Sebastiano Calchi Novati, Martin Burgdorf, Tobias C. Hinse, Markus Hundertmark, Tim-Oliver Husser, Eamonn Kerins, Penelope Longa-Peña, Luigi Mancini, Matthew Penny, Sohrab Rahvar, Davide Ricci, Sedighe Sajadian, Jesper Skottfelt, Colin Snodgrass, John Southworth, Jeremy Tregloan-Reed, Joachim Wambsganss, Olivier Wertz, Yiannis Tsapras, Rachel A. Street, D. M. Bramich, Keith Horne, Iain A. Steele

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We report the first unambiguous detection and mass measurement of an isolated stellar-mass black hole (BH). We used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to carry out precise astrometry of the source star of the long-duration (t_E ≃ 270 days), high-magnification microlensing event MOA-2011-BLG-191/OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 (hereafter designated as MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462), in the direction of the Galactic bulge. HST imaging, conducted at eight epochs over an interval of 6 yr, reveals a clear relativistic astrometric deflection of the background star’s apparent position. Ground-based photometry of MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462 shows a parallactic signature of the effect of Earth’s motion on the microlensing light curve. Combining the HST astrometry with the ground-based light curve and the derived parallax, we obtain a lens mass of 7.1 ± 1.3 M⊙ and a distance of 1.58 ± 0.18 kpc. We show that the lens emits no detectable light, which, along with having a mass higher than is possible for a white dwarf or neutron star, confirms its BH nature. Our analysis also provides an absolute proper motion for the BH. The proper motion is offset from the mean motion of Galactic disk stars at similar distances by an amount corresponding to a transverse space velocity of ∼45 km s⁻¹, suggesting that the BH received a “natal kick” from its supernova explosion. Previous mass determinations for stellar-mass BHs have come from radial velocity measurements of Galactic X-ray binaries and from gravitational radiation emitted by merging BHs in binary systems in external galaxies. Our mass measurement is the first for an isolated stellar-mass BH using any technique.

Original language	English
Article number	83
Number of pages	28
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	933
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac739e
Publication status	Published - 6 Jul 2022

Keywords

Block holes
Gravitational microlensing

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Copyright © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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H2020 MSCA ITN EJD 2019: H2020 MSCA ITN EJD 2019 CHAMELEON
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Sahu, K. C., Anderson, J., Casertano, S., Bond, H. E., Udalski, A., Dominik, M., Calamida, A., Bellini, A., Brown, T. M., Rejkuba, M., Bajaj, V., Kains, N., Ferguson, H. C., Fryer, C. L., Yock, P., Mróz, P., Kozłowski, S., Pietrukowicz, P., Poleski, R., ... Steele, I. A. (2022). An isolated stellar-mass black hole detected through astrometric microlensing. Astrophysical Journal, 933(1), Article 83. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac739e

@article{58713a2175554835abf5762ba2870483,

title = "An isolated stellar-mass black hole detected through astrometric microlensing",

abstract = "We report the first unambiguous detection and mass measurement of an isolated stellar-mass black hole (BH). We used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to carry out precise astrometry of the source star of the long-duration (tE ≃ 270 days), high-magnification microlensing event MOA-2011-BLG-191/OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 (hereafter designated as MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462), in the direction of the Galactic bulge. HST imaging, conducted at eight epochs over an interval of 6 yr, reveals a clear relativistic astrometric deflection of the background star{\textquoteright}s apparent position. Ground-based photometry of MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462 shows a parallactic signature of the effect of Earth{\textquoteright}s motion on the microlensing light curve. Combining the HST astrometry with the ground-based light curve and the derived parallax, we obtain a lens mass of 7.1 ± 1.3 M⊙ and a distance of 1.58 ± 0.18 kpc. We show that the lens emits no detectable light, which, along with having a mass higher than is possible for a white dwarf or neutron star, confirms its BH nature. Our analysis also provides an absolute proper motion for the BH. The proper motion is offset from the mean motion of Galactic disk stars at similar distances by an amount corresponding to a transverse space velocity of ∼45 km s−1, suggesting that the BH received a “natal kick” from its supernova explosion. Previous mass determinations for stellar-mass BHs have come from radial velocity measurements of Galactic X-ray binaries and from gravitational radiation emitted by merging BHs in binary systems in external galaxies. Our mass measurement is the first for an isolated stellar-mass BH using any technique.",

keywords = "Block holes, Gravitational microlensing",

author = "Sahu, {Kailash C.} and Jay Anderson and Stefano Casertano and Bond, {Howard E.} and Andrzej Udalski and Martin Dominik and Annalisa Calamida and Andrea Bellini and Brown, {Thomas M.} and Marina Rejkuba and Varun Bajaj and No{\'e} Kains and Ferguson, {Henry C.} and Fryer, {Chris L.} and Philip Yock and Przemek Mr{\'o}z and Szymon Koz{\l}owski and Pawe{\l} Pietrukowicz and Radek Poleski and Jan Skowron and Igor Soszy{\'n}ski and Szyma{\'n}ski, {Micha{\l} K.} and Krzysztof Ulaczyk and {\L}ukasz Wyrzykowski and Barry, {Richard K.} and Bennett, {David P.} and Bond, {Ian A.} and Yuki Hirao and Silva, {Stela Ishitani} and Iona Kondo and Naoki Koshimoto and Cl{\'e}ment Ranc and Rattenbury, {Nicholas J.} and Takahiro Sumi and Daisuke Suzuki and Tristram, {Paul J.} and Aikaterini Vandorou and Jean-Philippe Beaulieu and Jean-Baptiste Marquette and Andrew Cole and Pascal Fouqu{\'e} and Kym Hill and Stefan Dieters and Christian Coutures and Dijana Dominis-Prester and Clara Bennett and Etienne Bachelet and John Menzies and Michael Albrow and Karen Pollard and Andrew Gould and Yee, {Jennifer C.} and William Allen and Almeida, {Leonardo A.} and Grant Christie and John Drummond and Avishay Gal-Yam and Evgeny Gorbikov and Francisco Jablonski and Chung-Uk Lee and Dan Maoz and Ilan Manulis and Jennie McCormick and Tim Natusch and Pogge, {Richard W.} and Yossi Shvartzvald and J{\o}rgensen, {Uffe G.} and Alsubai, {Khalid A.} and Andersen, {Michael I.} and Valerio Bozza and Novati, {Sebastiano Calchi} and Martin Burgdorf and Hinse, {Tobias C.} and Markus Hundertmark and Tim-Oliver Husser and Eamonn Kerins and Penelope Longa-Pe{\~n}a and Luigi Mancini and Matthew Penny and Sohrab Rahvar and Davide Ricci and Sedighe Sajadian and Jesper Skottfelt and Colin Snodgrass and John Southworth and Jeremy Tregloan-Reed and Joachim Wambsganss and Olivier Wertz and Yiannis Tsapras and Street, {Rachel A.} and Bramich, {D. M.} and Keith Horne and Steele, {Iain A.}",

note = "Funding: L.W. acknowledges support from the Polish NCN grant Daina No. 2017/27/L/ST9/03221. J.-P.B. acknowledges support by the University of Tasmania through the UTAS Foundation and the endowed Warren Chair in Astronomy, and support by ANR COLD-WORLDS (ANR-18-CE31-0002) at Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris and the Laboratoire d{\textquoteright}astrophysique de Bordeaux. U.G.J. acknowledges funding from the European Union H2020-MSCA-ITN-2019 under Grant no. 860470 (CHAMELEON) and from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme grant no. NNF19OC0057374. T.C.H. acknowledges financial support from the National Research Foundation (NRF; No. 2019R1I1A1A 01059609). Y.T. acknowledges the support of DFG priority program SPP 1992 “Exploring the Diversity of Extrasolar Planets” (TS 356/3-1).",

year = "2022",

month = jul,

day = "6",

doi = "10.3847/1538-4357/ac739e",

language = "English",

volume = "933",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

issn = "0004-637X",

publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

number = "1",

}

Sahu, KC, Anderson, J, Casertano, S, Bond, HE, Udalski, A, Dominik, M, Calamida, A, Bellini, A, Brown, TM, Rejkuba, M, Bajaj, V, Kains, N, Ferguson, HC, Fryer, CL, Yock, P, Mróz, P, Kozłowski, S, Pietrukowicz, P, Poleski, R, Skowron, J, Soszyński, I, Szymański, MK, Ulaczyk, K, Wyrzykowski, Ł, Barry, RK, Bennett, DP, Bond, IA, Hirao, Y, Silva, SI, Kondo, I, Koshimoto, N, Ranc, C, Rattenbury, NJ, Sumi, T, Suzuki, D, Tristram, PJ, Vandorou, A, Beaulieu, J-P, Marquette, J-B, Cole, A, Fouqué, P, Hill, K, Dieters, S, Coutures, C, Dominis-Prester, D, Bennett, C, Bachelet, E, Menzies, J, Albrow, M, Pollard, K, Gould, A, Yee, JC, Allen, W, Almeida, LA, Christie, G, Drummond, J, Gal-Yam, A, Gorbikov, E, Jablonski, F, Lee, C-U, Maoz, D, Manulis, I, McCormick, J, Natusch, T, Pogge, RW, Shvartzvald, Y, Jørgensen, UG, Alsubai, KA, Andersen, MI, Bozza, V, Novati, SC, Burgdorf, M, Hinse, TC, Hundertmark, M, Husser, T-O, Kerins, E, Longa-Peña, P, Mancini, L, Penny, M, Rahvar, S, Ricci, D, Sajadian, S, Skottfelt, J, Snodgrass, C, Southworth, J, Tregloan-Reed, J, Wambsganss, J, Wertz, O, Tsapras, Y, Street, RA, Bramich, DM, Horne, K & Steele, IA 2022, 'An isolated stellar-mass black hole detected through astrometric microlensing', Astrophysical Journal, vol. 933, no. 1, 83. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac739e

TY - JOUR

T1 - An isolated stellar-mass black hole detected through astrometric microlensing

AU - Sahu, Kailash C.

AU - Anderson, Jay

AU - Casertano, Stefano

AU - Bond, Howard E.

AU - Udalski, Andrzej

AU - Dominik, Martin

AU - Calamida, Annalisa

AU - Bellini, Andrea

AU - Brown, Thomas M.

AU - Rejkuba, Marina

AU - Bajaj, Varun

AU - Kains, Noé

AU - Ferguson, Henry C.

AU - Fryer, Chris L.

AU - Yock, Philip

AU - Mróz, Przemek

AU - Kozłowski, Szymon

AU - Pietrukowicz, Paweł

AU - Poleski, Radek

AU - Skowron, Jan

AU - Soszyński, Igor

AU - Szymański, Michał K.

AU - Ulaczyk, Krzysztof

AU - Wyrzykowski, Łukasz

AU - Barry, Richard K.

AU - Bennett, David P.

AU - Bond, Ian A.

AU - Hirao, Yuki

AU - Silva, Stela Ishitani

AU - Kondo, Iona

AU - Koshimoto, Naoki

AU - Ranc, Clément

AU - Rattenbury, Nicholas J.

AU - Sumi, Takahiro

AU - Suzuki, Daisuke

AU - Tristram, Paul J.

AU - Vandorou, Aikaterini

AU - Beaulieu, Jean-Philippe

AU - Marquette, Jean-Baptiste

AU - Cole, Andrew

AU - Fouqué, Pascal

AU - Hill, Kym

AU - Dieters, Stefan

AU - Coutures, Christian

AU - Dominis-Prester, Dijana

AU - Bennett, Clara

AU - Bachelet, Etienne

AU - Menzies, John

AU - Albrow, Michael

AU - Pollard, Karen

AU - Gould, Andrew

AU - Yee, Jennifer C.

AU - Allen, William

AU - Almeida, Leonardo A.

AU - Christie, Grant

AU - Drummond, John

AU - Gal-Yam, Avishay

AU - Gorbikov, Evgeny

AU - Jablonski, Francisco

AU - Lee, Chung-Uk

AU - Maoz, Dan

AU - Manulis, Ilan

AU - McCormick, Jennie

AU - Natusch, Tim

AU - Pogge, Richard W.

AU - Shvartzvald, Yossi

AU - Jørgensen, Uffe G.

AU - Alsubai, Khalid A.

AU - Andersen, Michael I.

AU - Bozza, Valerio

AU - Novati, Sebastiano Calchi

AU - Burgdorf, Martin

AU - Hinse, Tobias C.

AU - Hundertmark, Markus

AU - Husser, Tim-Oliver

AU - Kerins, Eamonn

AU - Longa-Peña, Penelope

AU - Mancini, Luigi

AU - Penny, Matthew

AU - Rahvar, Sohrab

AU - Ricci, Davide

AU - Sajadian, Sedighe

AU - Skottfelt, Jesper

AU - Snodgrass, Colin

AU - Southworth, John

AU - Tregloan-Reed, Jeremy

AU - Wambsganss, Joachim

AU - Wertz, Olivier

AU - Tsapras, Yiannis

AU - Street, Rachel A.

AU - Bramich, D. M.

AU - Horne, Keith

AU - Steele, Iain A.

N1 - Funding: L.W. acknowledges support from the Polish NCN grant Daina No. 2017/27/L/ST9/03221. J.-P.B. acknowledges support by the University of Tasmania through the UTAS Foundation and the endowed Warren Chair in Astronomy, and support by ANR COLD-WORLDS (ANR-18-CE31-0002) at Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris and the Laboratoire d’astrophysique de Bordeaux. U.G.J. acknowledges funding from the European Union H2020-MSCA-ITN-2019 under Grant no. 860470 (CHAMELEON) and from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme grant no. NNF19OC0057374. T.C.H. acknowledges financial support from the National Research Foundation (NRF; No. 2019R1I1A1A 01059609). Y.T. acknowledges the support of DFG priority program SPP 1992 “Exploring the Diversity of Extrasolar Planets” (TS 356/3-1).

PY - 2022/7/6

Y1 - 2022/7/6

N2 - We report the first unambiguous detection and mass measurement of an isolated stellar-mass black hole (BH). We used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to carry out precise astrometry of the source star of the long-duration (tE ≃ 270 days), high-magnification microlensing event MOA-2011-BLG-191/OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 (hereafter designated as MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462), in the direction of the Galactic bulge. HST imaging, conducted at eight epochs over an interval of 6 yr, reveals a clear relativistic astrometric deflection of the background star’s apparent position. Ground-based photometry of MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462 shows a parallactic signature of the effect of Earth’s motion on the microlensing light curve. Combining the HST astrometry with the ground-based light curve and the derived parallax, we obtain a lens mass of 7.1 ± 1.3 M⊙ and a distance of 1.58 ± 0.18 kpc. We show that the lens emits no detectable light, which, along with having a mass higher than is possible for a white dwarf or neutron star, confirms its BH nature. Our analysis also provides an absolute proper motion for the BH. The proper motion is offset from the mean motion of Galactic disk stars at similar distances by an amount corresponding to a transverse space velocity of ∼45 km s−1, suggesting that the BH received a “natal kick” from its supernova explosion. Previous mass determinations for stellar-mass BHs have come from radial velocity measurements of Galactic X-ray binaries and from gravitational radiation emitted by merging BHs in binary systems in external galaxies. Our mass measurement is the first for an isolated stellar-mass BH using any technique.

AB - We report the first unambiguous detection and mass measurement of an isolated stellar-mass black hole (BH). We used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to carry out precise astrometry of the source star of the long-duration (tE ≃ 270 days), high-magnification microlensing event MOA-2011-BLG-191/OGLE-2011-BLG-0462 (hereafter designated as MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462), in the direction of the Galactic bulge. HST imaging, conducted at eight epochs over an interval of 6 yr, reveals a clear relativistic astrometric deflection of the background star’s apparent position. Ground-based photometry of MOA-11-191/OGLE-11-462 shows a parallactic signature of the effect of Earth’s motion on the microlensing light curve. Combining the HST astrometry with the ground-based light curve and the derived parallax, we obtain a lens mass of 7.1 ± 1.3 M⊙ and a distance of 1.58 ± 0.18 kpc. We show that the lens emits no detectable light, which, along with having a mass higher than is possible for a white dwarf or neutron star, confirms its BH nature. Our analysis also provides an absolute proper motion for the BH. The proper motion is offset from the mean motion of Galactic disk stars at similar distances by an amount corresponding to a transverse space velocity of ∼45 km s−1, suggesting that the BH received a “natal kick” from its supernova explosion. Previous mass determinations for stellar-mass BHs have come from radial velocity measurements of Galactic X-ray binaries and from gravitational radiation emitted by merging BHs in binary systems in external galaxies. Our mass measurement is the first for an isolated stellar-mass BH using any technique.

KW - Block holes

KW - Gravitational microlensing

U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/ac739e

DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ac739e

M3 - Article

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 933

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 1

M1 - 83

ER -

An isolated stellar-mass black hole detected through astrometric microlensing

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