Response to Comment on "A noninteracting low-mass black hole-giant star binary system".

Thompson, Todd A; Kochanek, Christopher S; Stanek, Krzysztof Z; Badenes, Carles; Jayasinghe, Tharindu; Tayar, Jamie; Johnson, Jennifer A; Holoien, Thomas W-S et al. · Science · 2020

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Abstract

Van den Heuvel and Tauris argue that if the red giant star in the system 2MASS J05215658+4359220 has a mass of 1 solar mass (<i>M</i> <sub>☉</sub>), then its unseen companion could be a binary composed of two 0.9 <i>M</i> <sub>☉</sub> stars, making a triple system. We contend that the existing data are most consistent with a giant of mass [Formula: see text] <i>M</i> <sub>☉</sub>, implying a black hole companion of [Formula: see text] <i>M</i> <sub>☉</sub>.