ADVECTION-DOMINATED ACCRETION AND BLACK-HOLE EVENT HORIZONS

The defining characteristic of a black hole is that it possesses an ev ent horizon through which matter and energy can fall in but from which nothing escapes. Soft X-ray transients (SXTs), a class of X-ray binar ies, appear to confirm this fundamental property of black holes. SXTs that are thought to contain accreting black holes display a large vari ation of luminosity between their bright and their faint states, while SXTs with accreting neutron stars have a smaller variation. This diff erence is predicted if the former stars have horizons, and the latter have normal surfaces.