Hubble Space Telescope Monitoring Reveals a 6.1 Day Period for an Ultraluminous X-Ray Source in NGC 1313

Details Hubble Space Telescope Monitoring Reveals a 6.1 Day Period for an Ultraluminous X-Ray Source in NGC 1313 Hubble Space Telescope Monitoring Reveals a 6.1 Day Period for an Ultraluminous X-Ray Source in NGC 1313

Jan 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009apj...690l..39l&link_type=abstract

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 690, Issue 1, pp. L39-L42 (2009).

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

13

Galaxies: Individual: Ngc 1313, X-Rays: Binaries

Scientific paper

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in nearby galaxies have X-ray luminosities of 1039-1041 erg s-1, and are possibly intermediate mass black holes of 102-105 M sun. NGC 1313 X-2 is an extreme ULX with a maximum luminosity of 3 × 1040 erg s-1, and a frequent target of X-ray and optical observations. Here we report our Hubble Space Telescope Guest Observer (GO) program to monitor its optical counterpart in a search of its period. The 20 monitoring observations over three weeks exhibited periodic modulations at the 6σ level with a period of P = 6.12 ± 0.16 days and an amplitude of A = 0.102 ± 0.016 mag. The periodicity is understood as from the orbital motion of the gravitationally distorted secondary that is unevenly irradiated by the X-ray radiation from the primary accretion disk. This is the first photometric period ever discovered for a ULX counterpart. The periodicity rules out a radiation mechanism through relativistic beaming effects. Combined with the photometry, the periodicity suggests that the secondary is most likely a giant branch star with a mass of 11.3-21.0 M sun and a radius of 14.4-18.3R sun.

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