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26 April 2024 |
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The Birth of an Ultra-Luminous X-ray Source in M83 | | Roberto Soria
; K. D. Kuntz
; P. Frank Winkler
; William P. Blair
; Knox S. Long
; Paul P. Plucinsky
; Bradley C. Whitmore
; | | Date: |
11 Mar 2012 | | Abstract: | A previously undetected X-ray source (L_X<10**36 erg/s) in the strongly
star-forming galaxy M83 entered an ultraluminous state between August 2009 and
December 2010. It was first seen with Chandra on 23 December 2010 at L_X ~ 4
10**39 ergs/s, and has remained ultraluminous through our most recent
observations in December 2011, with typical flux variation of a factor of two.
The spectrum is well fitted by a combination of absorbed power-law and disk
black-body models. While the relative contributions of the models varies with
time, we have seen no evidence for a canonical state transition. The luminosity
and spectral properties are consistent with accretion powered by a black hole
with M_BH ~ 40-100 solar masses. In July 2011 we found a luminous, blue optical
counterpart which had not been seen in deep HST observations obtained in August
2009. These optical observations suggest that the donor star is a low-mass star
undergoing Roche-lobe overflow, and that the blue optical emission seen during
the outburst is coming from an irradiated accretion disk. This source shows
that ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with low-mass companions are an
important component of the ULX population in star-forming galaxies, and
provides further evidence that the blue optical counterparts of some ULXs need
not indicate a young, high-mass companion, but rather that they may indicate
X-ray reprocessing. | | Source: | arXiv, 1203.2335 | | Services: | Forum | Review | PDF | Favorites | |
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