Evidence for Intrinsic Magnetic Moments in Black Hole Candidates

Abstract

We show that the power law part of the quiescent x-ray emissions of neutron stars in low mass x-ray binaries is magnetospheric in origin. It can be very accurately calculated from rates of spin and the $\\sim 10^{3 - 4}$ times brighter luminosity at the transition to the hard spectral state. We establish that the spectral state transition for neutron stars is a magnetospheric propeller effect. We test the hypothesis that the similar spectral state switches and quiescent power law emissions of the black hole candidates might be magnetospheric effects. In the process we derive proposed magnetic moments and rates of spin for them and accurately predict their quiescent luminosities. We discuss other tests of the hypothesis and consider some attractive aspects of a unified magnetospheric model for low mass x-ray binaries. We also consider some of the changes that would be needed for strong-field gravity theories to accomodate intrinsic magnetic moments in collapsed objects.