ChinaA dark companion in J0008+0128 weighs up to 2.8 Suns.
Few remnants weigh 2.5 to 5 Suns, and this one may sit in that gap.
Published in Science Advances, the study found it only through its pull on a red giant companion in a 1,218-day orbit.
Thousands of simulations by the researchers could not reproduce the object’s orbit and mass.
The neutron-star equation of state, linking pressure to density, remains unsolved, co-author Song Wang said.
How each outlet framed it
- 404 Media
- explains the 2.5–5 solar-mass 'mass gap' and that the object at up to 2.8 solar masses could sit inside it, citing 1,218-day orbit simulations
Sources: 404 Media