Testing wind as an explanation for the spin problem in the
  continuum-fitting method
  The continuum-fitting method is one of the two most advanced methods of
determining the black hole spin in accreting X-ray binary systems. There are,
however, still some unresolved issues with the underlying disk models. One of
them manifests as an apparent decrease in spin for increasing source
luminosity. Here, we perform a few simple tests to establish whether outflows
from the disk close to the inner radius can address this problem. We employ
four different parametric models to describe the wind and compare these to the
apparent decrease in spin with luminosity measured in the sources LMC~X-3 and
GRS~1915+105. Wind models in which parameters do not explicitly depend on the
accretion rate cannot reproduce the spin measurements. Models with mass
accretion rate dependent outflows, however, have spectra that emulate the
observed ones. The assumption of a wind thus effectively removes the artifact
of spin decrease. This solution is not unique; the same conclusion can be
obtained with a truncated inner disk model. To distinguish among valid models,
high resolution X-ray data and a realistic description of the Comptonization in
the wind will be needed.
