A Recurrent Ultraluminous X-ray Transient In M82: Another Intermediate-mass Black Hole?

Details A Recurrent Ultraluminous X-ray Transient In M82: Another Intermediate-mass Black Hole? A Recurrent Ultraluminous X-ray Transient In M82: Another Intermediate-mass Black Hole?

May 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007aas...210.3501k&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society Meeting 210, #35.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.148

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We report the discovery of a recurrent ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in the starburst galaxy M82. From a series of Chandra observations, we found an ULX (Lx 1e40 erg/s) that was active for about 100 days in late 1999. The source turned off in 2000 January for about 50 days and has been active since then, indicating at least a factor of 50 in brightness variation. During its active state, the source luminosity varies between 7e39 erg/s and 1e40 erg/s and shows unusual spectral changes. The X-ray spectra are best fit with a power-law with photon index of 1.2-1.7. By comparing with IR images taken with HST/NICMOS, the ULX is found to be located within a young star cluster. Radio imaging indicates that it is associated with an extended radio source. We suggest that the ULX is likely a >100 solar mass intermediate-mass black hole in the low/hard state. In addition to the transient, we also found a very luminous (Lx 2e39 erg/s) X-ray emitting supernova remnant and a highly absorbed hard ULX within 3 arcsec of the transient. Finally, we will discuss the diverse properties of ULXs in M82.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

A Recurrent Ultraluminous X-ray Transient In M82: Another Intermediate-mass Black Hole? does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with A Recurrent Ultraluminous X-ray Transient In M82: Another Intermediate-mass Black Hole?, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A Recurrent Ultraluminous X-ray Transient In M82: Another Intermediate-mass Black Hole? will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1030237