The black hole in NGC 1313 X-2: constraints on the mass from optical observations

Abstract

We present a theoretical study on the nature of the ultra-luminous X-ray source NGC 1313 X-2. We evolved a set of binaries with high mass donor stars orbiting a 20 M_Sun or a 50-100 M_Sun black hole. Using constraints from optical observations we restricted the candidate binary system for NGC 1313 X-2 to be either a 50-100 M_Sun black hole accreting from a 12-15 M_Sun main sequence star or a ~20 M_Sun black hole with a 12-15 M_Sun giant donor. If the modulation of ~6.12 days recently identified as the orbital period of the system is confirmed, a ~20 M_Sun black hole model becomes unlikely and we are left with the only possibility that the compact accretor in NGC 1313 X-2 is a massive black hole of ~50-100 M_Sun.