Ultraluminous X-ray sources in the Chandra and XMM-Newton era

Feng, Hua; Soria, Roberto

doi:10.1016/j.newar.2011.08.002

Cited by 332 publications

(358 citation statements)

References 280 publications

(390 reference statements)

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“…Two characteristic black hole masses were used; these corresponded both to a typical 10 M sMBH and a 30 M MsBH (Feng & Soria 2011), and are consistent with the range of black hole masses thought to power the majority of ULXs (e.g. Feng & Soria 2011, and references therein).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this case, ULXs may be powered by either typical stellar mass black holes (sMBHs; <20 M ; Feng & Soria 2011) or massive stellar black holes (MsBHs;20-100 M ;Feng & Soria 2011), which may form from stellar collapse in regions of low metallic-E-mail: andrew.sutton@durham.ac.uk ity (Zampieri & Roberts 2009;Belczynski et al 2010;Mapelli et al 2010). Some ULX transients provide evidence in favour of stellar remnant black holes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Irradiated, colour-temperature-corrected accretion discs in ultraluminous X-ray sources

Sutton¹,

Done²,

Roberts³

2014

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Although attempts have been made to constrain the stellar types of optical counterparts to ULXs, the detection of optical variability instead suggests that they may be dominated by reprocessed emission from X-rays which irradiate the outer accretion disc. Here, we report results from a combined X-ray and optical spectral study of a sample of ULXs, which were selected for having broadened disc-like X-ray spectra, and known optical counterparts. We simultaneously fit optical and X-ray data from ULXs with a new spectral model of emission from an irradiated, colour-temperaturecorrected accretion disc around a black hole, with a central Comptonising corona. We find that the ULXs require reprocessing fractions of ∼ 10 −3 , which is similar to sub-Eddington thermal dominant state BHBs, but less than has been reported for ULXs with soft ultraluminous X-ray spectra. We suggest that the reprocessing fraction may be due to the opposing effects of self-shielding in a geometrically thick super-critical accretion disc, and reflection from far above the central black hole by optically thin material ejected in a natal super-Eddington wind. Then, the higher reprocessing fractions reported for ULXs with wind-dominated X-ray spectra may be due to enhanced scattering onto the outer disc via the stronger wind in these objects. Alternatively, the accretion discs in these ULXs may not be particularly geometrically thick, rather they may be similar in this regard to the thermal dominant state BHBs.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Irradiated, colour-temperature-corrected accretion discs in ultraluminous X-ray sources

Sutton¹,

Done²,

Roberts³

2014

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…Much of the debate in the literature about the spectral classification of ULXs can be reduced to the choice between these two interpretations (e.g., Gladstone et al 2009;Feng & Soria 2011;Sutton et al 2013). Finally, we tested whether the addition of a thermal-plasma emission component improves the fit.…”

Section: Spectral Models For Ulx-1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Eclipsing Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in M51

Urquhart

Soria

2016

ApJ

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We present the discovery, from archival Chandra and XMM-Newton data, of X-ray eclipses in two ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), located in the same region of the galaxy M51: CXOM51 J132940.0+471237 (ULX-1, for simplicity) and CXOM51 J132939.5+471244 (ULX-2). Three eclipses were detected for ULX-1 and two for ULX-2. The presence of eclipses puts strong constraints on the viewing angle, suggesting that both ULXs are seen almost edge-on and are certainly not beamed toward us. Despite the similar viewing angles and luminosities ( »Ĺ 2 10 X 39 erg s −1 in the 0.3-8 keV band for both sources), their X-ray properties are different. ULX-1 has a soft spectrum, well fitted by Comptonization emission from a medium with electron temperature » kT 1 keV e . ULX-2 is harder, well fitted by a slim disk with » kT 1.5 in -1.8 keV and normalization consistent with a ∼10 M e black hole. ULX-1 has a significant contribution from multi-temperature thermal-plasma emission ( »Ĺ 2 10 X,mekal 38 erg s −1 ). About 10% of this emission remains visible during the eclipses, proving that the emitting gas comes from a region slightly more extended than the size of the donor star. From the sequence and duration of the Chandra observations in and out of eclipse, we constrain the binary period of ULX-1 to be either »6.3 days, or ≈12.5-13 days. If the donor star fills its Roche lobe (a plausible assumption for ULXs), both cases require an evolved donor, most likely a blue supergiant, given the young age of the stellar population in that Galactic environment.

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“…This Letter addresses the strong doubts cast by recent observations on the massive black hole (BH) interpretation for this system. A substantial downward revision of the mass of the compact object will impact research on the evolution of massive stars and BHs of all sizes (Barnard et al 2008;Belczynski et al 2010, Carpano et al 2008, Park & Riccoti 2011, long gamma-ray bursts and BH-BH sources of gravitational waves (Bogomazov 2014;Bulik et al 2011), as well as the so-called Ultra-Luminous X-ray (ULX) sources (Soria 2007, Gladstone et al 2009, Feng & Soria 2011, Medvedev & Putanen 2013. In particular, the noted preference for massive BH candidates to occur in low metallicity environments would lose its central exemplar.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting the dynamical case for a massive black hole in IC10 X-1

Laycock

Maccarone

Christodoulou

2015

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters

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The relative phasing of the X-ray eclipse ephemeris and optical radial velocity (RV) curve for the X-ray binary IC10 X-1 suggests the He[λ4686] emission-line originates in a shadowed sector of the stellar wind that avoids ionization by X-rays from the compact object. The line attains maximum blueshift when the wind is directly toward us at mid X-ray eclipse, as is also seen in Cygnus X-3. If the RV curve is unrelated to stellar motion, evidence for a massive black hole evaporates because the mass function of the binary is unknown. The reported X-ray luminosity, spectrum, slow QPO, and broad eclipses caused by absorption/scattering in the WR wind are all consistent with either a low-stellar-mass BH or a NS. For a NS, the centre of mass lies inside the WR envelope whose motion is then far below the observed 370 km/s RV amplitude, while the velocity of the compact object is as high as 600 km/s. The resulting 0.4% doppler variation of X-ray spectral lines could be confirmed by missions in development. These arguments also apply to other putative BH binaries whose RV and eclipse curves are not yet phase-connected. Theories of BH formation and predicted rates of gravitational wave sources may need revision.

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Ultraluminous X-ray sources in the Chandra and XMM-Newton era

Cited by 332 publications

References 280 publications

Irradiated, colour-temperature-corrected accretion discs in ultraluminous X-ray sources

Irradiated, colour-temperature-corrected accretion discs in ultraluminous X-ray sources

Two Eclipsing Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in M51

Revisiting the dynamical case for a massive black hole in IC10 X-1

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