Closing In On The Nature Of Ultraluminous X-ray Sources

Details Closing In On The Nature Of Ultraluminous X-ray Sources Closing In On The Nature Of Ultraluminous X-ray Sources

Feb 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010head...11.4219l&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #11, #42.19; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.728

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Ultra-luminous X-ray Sources (ULXs) in nearby galaxies, with X-ray luminosities higher than normal X-ray binaries but lower than quasars/AGNs, may be the long-sought intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) or stellar mass black holes with special radiation mechanisms. Intensive X-ray spectroscopic and timing and other studies have revealed evidence for both possibilities, yet none conclusive. The "holy grail” of the field is to dynamically measure the black hole mass, which is difficult because ULXs are optically faint in other galaxies. I and collaborators have identified the first optical counterpart for a ULX, and detected the first orbital period for a ULX optical counterpart. Most recently, we have identified the first two ULX secondaries as Wolf-Rayet stars, the strong line emission of which makes it plainly easy to measure the black hole mass via the dynamical means. With all the preparatory efforts, we are confident that we can obtain the black hole masses for several ULXs in the coming years. The results will have broad impact on the studies of IMBH formation and evolution, stellar evolution and black hole formation, and the astrophysics of accretion and radiation.

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