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X-RAY SPECTRAL AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF A ULX IN NGC 4258 (M106)

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
; ;  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Department of Physics, Cukurova University, 01330 Adana (Turkey)
  2. Department of Physics, Middle East Technical University, 06800 Ankara (Turkey)
  3. Space Sciences and Solar Energy Research and Application Center (UZAYMER), Cukurova University, 01330 Adana (Turkey)
We study the X-ray and optical properties of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) X-6 in the nearby galaxy NGC 4258 (M106) based on the archival XMM-Newton , Chandra , Swift , and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations. The source has a peak luminosity of L {sub X} ∼ 2 × 10{sup 39} erg s{sup −1} in the XMM-Newton observation of 2004 June. Consideration of the hardness ratios and the spectral model parameters shows that the source seems to exhibit possible spectral variations throughout the X-ray observations. In the images from the HST /Advanced Camera for Surveys, three optical sources have been identified as counterpart candidates within the 1 σ error radius of 0.″3. The brightest one has an absolute magnitude of M {sub V} ≈ −7.0 and shows extended structure. The remaining two sources have absolute magnitudes of M {sub V} ≈ −5.8 and −5.3. The possible spectral types of the candidates from brightest to dimmest were determined as B6–A5, B0–A7, and B2–A3. The counterparts of the X-ray source possibly belong to a young star cluster. Neither the standard disk model nor the slim disk model provides firm evidence to determine the spectral characteristics of ULX X-6. We argue that the mass of the compact object lies in the range 10–15 M {sub ☉}, indicating that the compact source is most likely a stellar-mass black hole.
OSTI ID:
22667438
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 828; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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