X-ray constraint for the unseen companion of V723 Mon: it is a mass-gap black hole rather than binary neutron stars

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recently, the red giant V723 Mon is reported to have an unseen companion with a mass of 3.04 ± 0.06 M⊙, but question remains about whether it is a single (thus the so-called mass-gap) black hole or an inner binary of two more ordinary compact objects (neutron stars or white dwarfs). In this work, we estimate the X-ray emission by considering the wind-fed accretion from V723 Mon on to the compact companion. We analyse three different scenarios of the dark companion, i.e. a single black hole, binary neutron stars, and binary of a neutron star and a white dwarf. We show that the single black hole is the most favoured scenario. We also calculate the synchrotron emission from the bow shock caused by the interaction of the compact companion with the wind. We find that this emission peaks at ∼0.1–1 GHz, with a flux density of ∼1 mJy, which is expected to be detected by observations with higher angular resolution in the future.