<p>The 2011 NASA Goddard video <a href="https://youtu.be/YlHS-JlkYPI" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NASA | RXTE Detects 'Heartbeat' Of Smallest Black Hole Candidate</a> mentions a heartbeat and includes a graphic of pulses from GRS 1915+105. A screenshot is shown below. No timescale is shown, it's mostly a &quot;graphics fluff&quot; or &quot;science woo&quot; (to borrow a phrase) video.</p>
<p>However Wikipedia's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rossi_X-ray_Timing_Explorer" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer</a> doesn't seem to mention any heartbeats <em>per se</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> What is a typical &quot;pulse rate&quot; for a black hole's &quot;heartbeat&quot;? Is the process better understood than it was in 2011?</p>
<hr />
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/i9q6N.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/i9q6N.jpg" alt="screenshot of The 2011 NASA Goddard video &quot;NASA | RXTE Detects 'Heartbeat' Of Smallest Black Hole Candidate&quot; https://youtu.be/YlHS-JlkYPI" /></a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-06T01:04:29.380Z
See also [Why was the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer decommissioned in 2012? Why wasn't it deployed another ~100 km higher where drag would have been a lot less?](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/54474/12102) in Space Exploration SE.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-06T01:06:08.743Z
There's some relevant info in the video description. "But to date only IGR J17091 and one other system, named GRS 1915+105, exhibit so-called rho-class oscillations that astronomers describe as a 'heartbeat' reflecting the accretion and ejection of matter. [...] In GRS 1915+105, which at 14 solar masses is by f[a]r the more massive of the two, this cycle occurs in as little as 40 seconds. It occurs eight times faster in IGR J17091".
PM 2Ring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-06T10:57:20.007Z
Recent shared news show that there is a good progress made by efforts in the black holes observation refinement and obtained data analysis results.
More detailed observation feeding analysis, simulations and concepts.
Here some results: https://phys.org/news/2021-07-magnetic-balding-black-holes-relativity.html
I hope this answers your question in a sense.
Lariliss
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-06T18:12:10.550Z
@Lariliss I don't understand that either, but it's an interesting article! fyiI I've just asked [Why wouldn't a black hole's magnetic hair being short-lived break the no-hair conjecture, but a long-lived hair wouldn't? How long is “long-lived”?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/45182/7982)
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-06T18:12:17.687Z
@BenCrowell ditto.
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-17T06:51:37.623Z
GRS1915+10 is a rather special system, showing many modes of behavior. This heartbeat was in one particular mode.  Have a look for articles about QPO (Quasi Periodic Oscillations). A recent review paper is: https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.08758.
TazAstroSpacial
<observational-astronomy><black-hole><time-domain-astronomy>
What is a typical "pulse rate" for a black hole "heartbeat"? Is the process better understood than it was in 2011?
uhoh
# What is a typical "pulse rate" for a black hole "heartbeat"? Is the process better understood than it was in 2011?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-08-06)

The 2011 NASA Goddard video [NASA | RXTE Detects 'Heartbeat' Of Smallest Black Hole Candidate](https://youtu.be/YlHS-JlkYPI) mentions a heartbeat and includes a graphic of pulses from GRS 1915+105. A screenshot is shown below. No timescale is shown, it's mostly a "graphics fluff" or "science woo" (to borrow a phrase) video.

However Wikipedia's [Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rossi_X-ray_Timing_Explorer) doesn't seem to mention any heartbeats *per se*.

**Question:** What is a typical "pulse rate" for a black hole's "heartbeat"? Is the process better understood than it was in 2011?

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[![screenshot of The 2011 NASA Goddard video "NASA | RXTE Detects 'Heartbeat' Of Smallest Black Hole Candidate" https://youtu.be/YlHS-JlkYPI](https://i.sstatic.net/i9q6N.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/i9q6N.jpg)

**Tags:** observational-astronomy, black-hole, time-domain-astronomy

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: See also [Why was the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer decommissioned in 2012? Why wasn't it deployed another ~100 km higher where drag would have been a lot less?](https://space.stackexchange.com/q/54474/12102) in Space Exploration SE.  
> **username_1**: There's some relevant info in the video description. "But to date only IGR J17091 and one other system, named GRS 1915+105, exhibit so-called rho-class oscillations that astronomers describe as a 'heartbeat' reflecting the accretion and ejection of matter. [...] In GRS 1915+105, which at 14 solar masses is by f[a]r the more massive of the two, this cycle occurs in as little as 40 seconds. It occurs eight times faster in IGR J17091".  
> **username_2**: Recent shared news show that there is a good progress made by efforts in the black holes observation refinement and obtained data analysis results. More detailed observation feeding analysis, simulations and concepts. Here some results: https://phys.org/news/2021-07-magnetic-balding-black-holes-relativity.html I hope this answers your question in a sense.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 I don't understand that either, but it's an interesting article! fyiI I've just asked [Why wouldn't a black hole's magnetic hair being short-lived break the no-hair conjecture, but a long-lived hair wouldn't? How long is “long-lived”?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/45182/7982)  
> **username_0**: @BenCrowell ditto.  
> **username_3**: GRS1915+10 is a rather special system, showing many modes of behavior. This heartbeat was in one particular mode.  Have a look for articles about QPO (Quasi Periodic Oscillations). A recent review paper is: https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.08758.  

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## 0 answers

