Discovery of an unusual new radio source in the star-forming galaxy M82: faint supernova, supermassive black hole or an extragalactic microquasar?

Muxlow, T. W. B.; Beswick, R. J.; Garrington, S. T.; Pedlar, A.; Fenech, Danielle; Argo, M. K.; Eymeren, J. van; Ward, M.; Zezas, A.; Brunthaler, A.

doi:10.1111/j.1745-3933.2010.00845.x

Cited by 37 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Microquasars are accreting stellar mass (∼10 M ) black holes. An extragalactic microquasar origin has previously been suggested by Muxlow et al (2010) and Joseph et al (2011) for the superluminal source in M 82 while Bondi et al (2012) suggests the same origin for a rapidly variable source in Arp299. Assuming corejet sources with Γ = 5 observed at an angle to line-of-sight (LOS) of 1/Γ, which is the typical angle for the brightest selected sources in a randomly oriented population, the de-beamed intrinsic (rest-frame) radio luminosity of the Arp220 sources would be ∼7 × 10 33 erg s −1 (calculated by integrating up to the observed frequency and assuming a flat spectrum).…”

Section: Microblazarsmentioning

confidence: 67%

Rapid variability of the compact radio sources in Arp220

Batejat¹,

Conway²,

Rushton³

et al. 2012

A&A

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Context. The two nuclei of the starburst galaxy Arp220 contain multiple compact radio sources previously identified as radio supernovae or supernova remnants. Aims. In order to search for an embedded radio AGN, or other possible exotic objects, we have carried out a programme of VLBI monitoring at 6 cm over three epochs each separated by four months. Methods. Combining the new data with existing data at 6 cm and 18 cm (spanning 4 and 12 years respectively) we are able to characterise source flux density variability on a range of timescales. Additionally we analyse the variability of sources in shape and position. Results. We detect rapid (<4 months) variability in three sources (W7, W26, and W29). These sources show possible superluminal motion (>4c) of jet-like features near rapidly varying almost stationary components. These enigmatic sources might be associated with an AGN or a highly beamed microquasar (i.e. microblazar). Other hypotheses include that the apparent variability is intrinsic and is produced by neutron star powered central components within a supernova remnant, by a sequence of several supernovae within super star clusters, or is extrinsic and is produced by Galactic interstellar scintillation of very compact non-varying objects. Conclusions. A microquasar/microblazar origin seems to be the best explanation for the nature of the variable sources in Arp220.

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Section: Microblazarsmentioning

confidence: 67%

Rapid variability of the compact radio sources in Arp220

Batejat¹,

Conway²,

Rushton³

et al. 2012

A&A

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“…SN 2008iz is located close to several variable ultraluminous X-ray sources, but no emission was detected at the position of the supernova. Muxlow et al (2009) and Muxlow et al (2010) In order to compare our results with those of SN 1993J, we assume that physical properties are similar at a similar ages, i.e., thermal bremsstrahlung emission with a temperature of 1.05 keV, abundances from Table 2, Col. 4 of Zimmermann & Aschenbach (2003), and an absorption column density of 5.4 × 10 22 cm −2 (see Sect. 5.1).…”

Section: X-ray Upper Limitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

VLBI observations of SN 2008iz

Brunthaler¹,

Martí-Vidal²,

Menten³

et al. 2010

A&A

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We present observations of the recently discovered supernova 2008iz in M 82 with the VLBI High Sensitivity Array at 22 GHz, the Very Large Array at frequencies of 1. 4, 4.8, 8.4, 22 and 43 GHz, and the Chandra X-ray observatory. The supernova was clearly detected in two VLBI images separated by 11 months. The source shows a ring-like morphology and expands with a velocity of ∼23 000 km s −1 . The most likely explosion date is in mid-February 2008. The measured expansion speed is a factor of ∼2 higher than expected under the assumption that synchrotron self-absorption dominates the light curve at the peak, indicating that this absorption mechanism may not be important for the radio emission. We find no evidence for an asymmetric explosion. The VLA spectrum shows a broken power law, indicating that the source was still optically thick at 1.4 GHz in April 2009. Finally, we report upper limits on the X-ray emission from SN 2008iz and a second radio transient recently discovered by MERLIN observations.

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“…Also, by enabling the detection of faint radio emission from extragalactic black holes (either X-ray binaries or ULXs), it could, given a sufficiently long time baseline, allow the measurement of the proper motions of the most luminous black holes in nearby galaxies (or even their ejecta, as tentatively reported for an exceptionally bright transient in M82; Muxlow et al 2010). Although the details are still to be determined, a VLBI capability is envisaged in the SKA baseline design, and the main science drivers have been presented by Godfrey et al (2012).…”

Section: Future Prospectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Astrometric Observations of X-ray Binaries Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry

Miller-Jones

2014

Publ. Astron. Soc. Aust.

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I review the astrophysical insights arising from high-precision astrometric observations of X-ray binary systems, focussing primarily (but not exclusively) on recent results with very long baseline interferometry. Accurate, model-independent distances from geometric parallax measurements can help determine physical parameters of the host binary system and constrain black hole spins via broadband X-ray spectral modelling. Long-term proper motion studies, combined with binary evolution calculations, can provide observational constraints on the formation mechanism of black holes. Finally, the astrometric residuals from parallax and proper motion fits can provide information on orbital sizes and jet physics. I end by discussing prospects for future progress in this field.

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Discovery of an unusual new radio source in the star-forming galaxy M82: faint supernova, supermassive black hole or an extragalactic microquasar?

Cited by 37 publications

References 27 publications

Rapid variability of the compact radio sources in Arp220

Rapid variability of the compact radio sources in Arp220

VLBI observations of SN 2008iz

Astrometric Observations of X-ray Binaries Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry

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