The Search for Black Holes in X-Ray Binaries: An Update

Abstract

This paper reviews some of the recent observational results on stellar mass black hole candidates. Over the last decade, much of the progress in this field has been achieved through the study of transient X--ray binary sources which shine only sporadically in the X--ray sky and undergo much larger luminosity variations then most persistent sources. There are currently six stellar--mass black hole candidates for which the mass of the compact object is estimated to be well above the maximum neutron star mass. The three most recently identified black hole candidates of this kind belong to a class of transient X--ray sources with peculiar spectral properties. Several new transients of this class are being discovered and studied every year thanks to more continous monitoring of the X--ray sky. Many of them are likely to contain other black hole candidates. The growing number of candidates and the large luminosity variations (and therefore, accretion rate variations) in transient sources will allow to study the chacteristics of accreting black holes with an unprecedented detail.