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A Comparison of Intermediate Mass Black Hole Candidate ULXs and Stellar-Mass Black Holes | J. M. Miller
; A. C. Fabian
; M. C. Miller
; | Date: |
29 Jun 2004 | Journal: | Astrophys.J. 614 (2004) L117-L120 | Subject: | astro-ph | Affiliation: | Harvard-Smithsonian CfA, Univ. of Cambridge IoA, Univ. of Maryland | Abstract: | Cool thermal emission components have recently been revealed in the X-ray spectra of a small number of ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) sources with L_X > 1 E+40 erg/s in nearby galaxies. These components can be well fitted with accretion disk models, with temperatures approximately 5-10 times lower than disk temperatures measured in stellar-mass Galactic black holes when observed in their brightest states. Because disk temperature is expected to fall with increasing black hole mass, and because the X-ray luminosity of these sources exceeds the Eddington limit for 10 Msun black holes (L_Edd = 1.3 E+39 erg/s), these sources are extremely promising intermediate-mass black hole candidates (IMBHCs). In this Letter, we directly compare the inferred disk temperatures and luminosities of these ULXs, with the disk temperatures and luminosities of a number of Galactic black holes. The sample of stellar-mass black holes was selected to include different orbital periods, companion types, inclinations, and column densities. These ULXs and stellar-mass black holes occupy distinct regions of a L_X -- kT diagram, suggesting these ULXs may harbor IMBHs. We briefly discuss the important strengths and weaknesses of this interpretation. | Source: | arXiv, astro-ph/0406656 | Services: | Forum | Review | PDF | Favorites |
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