Physics
Scientific paper
Jul 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007hst..prop11227l&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #11227. Cycle 16
Physics
Scientific paper
The ultraluminous X-ray sources ULXs are extragalactic point sources with luminosities that exceed the Eddington luminosity for conventional stellar-mass black holes by factors of 10 - 100. It has been hotly debated whether the ULXs are just common stellar-mass black hole sources with beamed emission or whether they are sub-Eddington sources that are powered by the long-sought intermediate mass black holes IMBH. To firmly decide this question, one must obtain dynamical mass measurements through photometric and spectroscopic monitoring of the secondaries of these system. The crucial first step is to establish the orbital period of a ULX, and arguably the best way to achieve this goal is by monitoring its ellipsoidal light curve. The extreme ULX NGC1313 X-2 provides an outstanding target for an orbital period determination because its relatively bright optical counterpart V = 23.5 showed a 15% variation between two HST observations separated by three months. This level of variability is consistent with that expected for a tidally distorted secondary star. Here we propose a set of 20 imaging observations with HST/WFPC2 to define the orbital period. This would be the first photometric measurement of the orbital period of a ULX binary. Subsequently, we will propose to obtain spectroscopic observations to obtain its radial velocity amplitude and thereby a dynamical estimate of its mass.;
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