MULTI-EPOCH MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY OF AN ULTRALUMINOUS X-RAY SOURCE IN M101: THE NATURE OF THE SECONDARY

Jifeng, Liu

doi:10.1088/0004-637X/704/2/1628

Title: MULTI-EPOCH MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY OF AN ULTRALUMINOUS X-RAY SOURCE IN M101: THE NATURE OF THE SECONDARY

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Abstract

Ultraluminous X-ray sources are non-nuclear point sources in external galaxies with L{sub X} = 2 x 10{sup 39}-10{sup 41} erg s{sup -1}, and thus are possibly stellar black holes with special radiation mechanisms or intermediate mass black holes of 100-10{sup 5} M {sub sun}. To measure their dynamical mass, one needs to identify the secondary in the optical followed by photometric and spectroscopic monitoring. The counterpart light is usually contaminated, sometimes even dominated, by the X-ray irradiated accretion disk, which complicates the derivation of the properties of the secondary itself. Here, we report a study on M101-ULX1 with 26 Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations and 33 X-ray observations over 16 years. There were three multi-band HST observations at different optical states over eight years, the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of which cannot be fitted by the previously claimed secondary of a B supergiant or any other single star. All SEDs can be decomposed into the same stellar component plus a second component due to X-ray irradiation with different contributions at different optical states. The secondary in ULX1 is most likely a WR star as revealed by the SED decompositions and confirmed by the presence of He II lambda4686 emission inmore »« less

Authors:: Jifeng, Liu

Publication Date:: Tue Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2009

OSTI Identifier:: 21367319

Resource Type:: Journal Article

Journal Name:: Astrophysical Journal

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 704; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/704/2/1628; Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ACCRETION DISKS; BLACK HOLES; COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES; ENERGY SPECTRA; GALAXIES; MASS; POINT SOURCES; STARS; TELESCOPES; WAVELENGTHS; COSMIC RAY SOURCES; RADIATION SOURCES; SPECTRA

Citation Formats


                    Jifeng, Liu. MULTI-EPOCH MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY OF AN ULTRALUMINOUS X-RAY SOURCE IN M101: THE NATURE OF THE SECONDARY.  United States: N. p., 2009. 
        Web.  doi:10.1088/0004-637X/704/2/1628.

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                    Jifeng, Liu. MULTI-EPOCH MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY OF AN ULTRALUMINOUS X-RAY SOURCE IN M101: THE NATURE OF THE SECONDARY.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/704/2/1628

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                    Jifeng, Liu. 2009.  
        "MULTI-EPOCH MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY OF AN ULTRALUMINOUS X-RAY SOURCE IN M101: THE NATURE OF THE SECONDARY".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/704/2/1628.

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@article{osti_21367319,

  title        = {MULTI-EPOCH MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY OF AN ULTRALUMINOUS X-RAY SOURCE IN M101: THE NATURE OF THE SECONDARY},

  author       = {Jifeng, Liu},

  abstractNote = {Ultraluminous X-ray sources are non-nuclear point sources in external galaxies with L{sub X} = 2 x 10{sup 39}-10{sup 41} erg s{sup -1}, and thus are possibly stellar black holes with special radiation mechanisms or intermediate mass black holes of 100-10{sup 5} M {sub sun}. To measure their dynamical mass, one needs to identify the secondary in the optical followed by photometric and spectroscopic monitoring. The counterpart light is usually contaminated, sometimes even dominated, by the X-ray irradiated accretion disk, which complicates the derivation of the properties of the secondary itself. Here, we report a study on M101-ULX1 with 26 Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations and 33 X-ray observations over 16 years. There were three multi-band HST observations at different optical states over eight years, the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of which cannot be fitted by the previously claimed secondary of a B supergiant or any other single star. All SEDs can be decomposed into the same stellar component plus a second component due to X-ray irradiation with different contributions at different optical states. The secondary in ULX1 is most likely a WR star as revealed by the SED decompositions and confirmed by the presence of He II lambda4686 emission in the counterpart spectrum. Five X-ray outbursts and two optical peaks are revealed from X-ray and optical light curves, and optical peaks are identified as the optical response to X-ray outbursts. The correlated optical and X-ray variability analysis is suggestive of ellipsoidal modulation with a half-amplitude of 0.05 mag and a period in the range of 1.5-4.5 days. Future photometric and spectroscopic observations are required to confirm the orbital period and measure the dynamical mass for ULX1.},

  doi          = {10.1088/0004-637X/704/2/1628},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21367319},
  journal      = {Astrophysical Journal},

  issn         = {0004-637X},

  number       = 2,

  volume       = 704,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Tue Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2009},

  month        = {Tue Oct 20 00:00:00 EDT 2009}

}

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