Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Scientific paper
2009-09-24
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Accepted by ApJ Letter, 2 figures
Scientific paper
The brightest Ultra-Luminous X-ray source (ULX), ESO 243-49 HLX-1, with a 0.2 - 10 keV X-ray luminosity of up to 10^42 erg s^-1, provides the strongest evidence to date for the existence of intermediate mass black holes. Although small scale X-ray spectral variability has already been demonstrated, we have initiated a monitoring campaign with the X-ray Telescope onboard the Swift satellite to search for luminosity-related spectral changes and to compare its behavior with the better studied stellar mass black holes. In this paper, we report a drop in the XRT count rate by a factor of ~8 which occurred simultaneously with a hardening of the X-ray spectrum. A second observation found that the source had re-brightened by a factor of ~21 which occurred simultaneously with a softening of the X-ray spectrum. This may be the first evidence for a transition between the low/hard and high/soft states.
Barret Dider
Farrell Sean A.
Gehrels Neil
Godet Olivier
Webb Natalie A.
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