Cygnus X-1: A Spinning Black Hole?

Abstract

It has been a long-standing puzzle what triggers the spectral transition between the hard and soft states in Cyg X-1. Also, the origin of the frequently observed X-ray flares in the source still remains a mystery. In this paper, we will make an attempt to address these issues in light of our recent work on black hole spin and its observational consequences.

4 pages. Proceedings of the 1997 Pacific Rim Conference on Stellar Astrophysics, Eds: K. L. Chan, K. S. Cheng, and H. P. Singh (PASJ), Hong Kong, China, August 13-16, 1997