The mass of x-ray Nova Scorpii 1994 GRO J1655-40

We have obtained high- and intermediate-resolution optical spectra of the black hole candidate Nova Scorpii 1994 in 1998 May/June, when the source was in complete (X-ray) quiescence. We measure the radial velocity curve of the secondary star and obtain a semi-amplitude of K2=215.5 ± 2.4 km s-1, which is 6 per cent lower than the only previously determined value. This new value for K2 thus reduces the binary mass function to f(M) = 2.73 ± 0.09 M⊙. Using only the high-resolution spectra, we constrain the rotational broadening of the secondary star, v sin i, to lie in the range 82.9–94.9 km s-1 (95 per cent confidence) and thus constrain the binary mass ratio to lie in the range 0.337–0.436 (95 per cent confidence). We can also combine our results with published limits for the binary inclination to constrain the mass of the compact object and secondary star to the ranges 5.5–7.9 and 1.7–3.3 M⊙ respectively (95 per cent confidence). Finally, we report on the detection of the lithium resonance line at 6707.8 A, with an equivalent width of 55 ± 8 m A.