For a long time, the well-known supercritically accreting binary SS433 is being proposed as a prototype for a class of hypothetical bright X-ray sources that may be identified with the so-called Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in nearby galaxies or at least with part of them. Like SS433, these objects should be associated with optical nebulae, powered by both radiation of the central source and its wind or jet activity. Indeed, around many ULXs, bright optical nebulae (ULX Nebulae, ULXNe) are found. Here, we use SS433 as a prototype for the power source creating the nebulae around ULXs. Though many factors are important such as the structure of the host star-forming region and the possible supernova remnant formed together with the accreting compact object, we show that most of the properties of ULXNe may be explained by an SS433-like system evolving for up to about one million years in a constant density environment. The basic stages of evolution of a ULX Nebula include a non-spherical HII-region with a central cavity created by non-radiative shock waves, an elongated or bipolar shock-powered nebula created by jet activity and a large-scale quasi-spherical bubble.
New optical narrowband imaging observations of the fields of several ULXs are presented. Known supershell nebulae are associated with a number of these ULXs, which we detect in emission line filters such as [S II], He II, [O II] and [O III]. New nebulae are discovered, which are candidate ULX-powered supershells. The morphologies and emission line fluxes of these nebulae could then be used to infer the properties of the emitting gas, which gives clues to the energizing source (photoionization and/or shock-excitation, both possibly from the ULX). Studies of supershells powered by ULXs can help …
The black hole mass and accretion rate in Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in external galaxies, whose X-ray luminosities exceed those of the brightest black holes in our Galaxy by hundreds and thousands of times$^{1,2}$, is an unsolved problem. Here we report that all ULXs ever spectroscopically observed have about the same optical spectra apparently of WNL type (late nitrogen Wolf-Rayet stars) or LBV (luminous blue variables) in their hot state, which are very scarce stellar objects. We show that the spectra do not originate from WNL/LBV type donors but from very hot winds from the accreti…
Most ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are thought to be supercritical accreting compact objects, where massive outflows are inevitable. Using the long-term monitoring data with the Swift X-ray Telescope, we identified a common feature in bright, hard ULXs: they display a quasi-periodic modulation in their hard X-ray band but not in their soft band. As a result, some sources show a bimodal distribution on the hardness intensity map. We argue that these model-independent results can be well interpreted in a picture that involves supercritical accretion with precession, where the hard X-ray emi…
Supercritical accretion onto compact objects may drive massive winds that are nearly spherical, optically thick, and Eddington limited. Blackbody emission from the photosphere is the direct observational signature of the wind. Here we investigate whether or not it can explain the soft emission component seen in the energy spectra of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). Based on high-quality XMM-Newton spectra of 15 ULXs, we find that the soft component can be modeled as blackbody emission with a nearly constant luminosity, and the 5 known pulsating ULXs (PULXs) in the sample display a blackbody…
The origin of Ultraluminous X-ray Sources (ULXs) in external galaxies whose X-ray luminosities exceed those of the brightest black holes in our Galaxy by hundreds and thousands of times is mysterious. The most popular models for the ULXs involve either intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) or stellar-mass black holes accreting at super-Eddington rates. Here we review the ULX properties. Their X-ray spectra indicate a presence of hot winds in their accretion disks supposing the supercritical accretion. In recent years, new surprising results were discovered in X-ray data, ULX-pulsars and high-v…
The origin of Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in external galaxies whose X-ray luminosities exceed those of the brightest black holes in our Galaxy by hundreds and thousands of times is mysterious. The most popular models for the ULXs involve either intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) or stellar-mass black holes accreting at super-Eddington rates. Here we review the ULX properties, their X-ray spectra indicate a presence of hot winds in their accretion disks supposing the supercritical accretion. However, the strongest evidences come from optical spectroscopy. The spectra of the ULX count…
Supercritical accretion flows inevitably produce radiation-pressure driven outflows, which will Compton up-scatter soft photons from the underlying accretion flow, thereby making hard emission. We perform two dimensional radiation hydrodynamic simulations of supercritical accretion flows and outflows, incorporating such Compton scattering effects, and demonstrate that there appears a new hard spectral state at higher photon luminosities than that of the slim-disk state. In this state, as the photon luminosity increases, the photon index decreases and the fraction of the hard emission increases…
We present the results of deep optical spectroscopic observations using the LRIS spectrograph on the Keck I 10-m telescope of three ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs), Ho IX X-1; M81 X-6; and Ho II X-1. Our observations reveal the existence of large (100 - 200 pc diameter) highly-ionized nebulae, identified by diffuse He II (4686 Angstrom) emission, surrounding these sources. Our results are the first to find highly-ionized nebulae of this extent, and the detection in all three objects indicates this may be a common feature of ULXs. In addition to the extended emission, Ho IX X-1 has an unres…
We review observations of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). X-ray spectroscopic and timing studies of ULXs suggest a new accretion state distinct from those seen in Galactic stellar-mass black hole binaries. The detection of coherent pulsations indicates the presence of neutron-star accretors in three ULXs and therefore apparently super-Eddington luminosities. Optical and X-ray line profiles of ULXs and the properties of associated radio and optical nebulae suggest that ULXs produce powerful outflows, also indicative of super-Eddington accretion. We discuss models of super-Eddington accretio…
It has recently been discovered that a fraction of ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) exhibit X-ray pulsations, and are therefore powered by super-Eddington accretion onto magnetized neutron stars (NSs). For typical ULX mass accretion rates ($\gtrsim 10^{19}\,{\rm g\,s^{-1}}$), the inner parts of the accretion disc are expected to be in the supercritical regime, meaning that some material is lost in a wind launched from the disc surface, while the rest forms an optically thick envelope around the NS as it follows magnetic field lines from the inner disc radius to the magnetic poles of the sta…
Luminosities of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are uncomfortably large if compared to the Eddington limit for isotropic accretion onto stellar-mass object. Most often either supercritical accretion onto stellar mass black hole or accretion onto intermediate mass black holes is invoked the high luminosities of ULXs. However, the recent discovery of coherent pulsations from M82 ULX with NuSTAR showed that another scenario implying accretion onto a magnetized neutron star is possible for ULXs. Motivated by this discovery, we re-visited the available XMM-Newton archival observations of several…
We present the discovery and interpretation of ionized nebulae around two ultraluminous X-ray sources in M 51; both sources share the rare property of showing X-ray eclipses by their companion stars, and are therefore prime targets for follow-up studies. Using archival Hubble Space Telescope images, we found an elongated, 100-pc-long emission-line structure associated with one X-ray source (CXOM51 J132940.0+471237; ULX-1 for simplicity), and a more circular, ionized nebula at the location of the second source (CXOM51 J132939.5+471244; ULX-2 for simplicity). We observed both nebulae with the La…
Roche lobe overflow from a donor star onto a black hole or neutron star binary companion can evolve to a phase of unstable runaway mass-transfer, lasting as short as hundreds of orbits ($\lesssim 10^{2}$ yr for a giant donor), and eventually culminating in a common envelope event. The highly super-Eddington accretion rates achieved during this brief phase ($\dot{M} \gtrsim 10^{5}\dot{M}_{\rm Edd})$ are accompanied by intense mass-loss in disk winds, analogous but even more extreme than ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) sources in the nearby universe. Also in analogy with observed ULX, this expanding …
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are accreting black holes that may contain the missing population of intermediate mass black holes or reflect super-Eddington accretion physics. Ten years of Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of ULXs, integrated by multiband studies of their counterparts, have produced a wealth of observational data and phenomenological classifications. We review the properties of their host galaxies, list popular spectral models and implications for standard and supercritical accretion physics, demonstrate how X-ray timing of these objects places constraints on their masse…
The nature of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) -- off-nuclear extra-galactic sources with luminosity, assumed isotropic, $\gtrsim 10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$ -- is still debated. One possibility is that ULXs are stellar black holes accreting beyond the Eddington limit. This view has been recently reinforced by the discovery of ultrafast outflows at $\sim 0.1$-$0.2c$ in the high resolution spectra of a handful of ULXs, as predicted by models of supercritical accretion discs. Under the assumption that ULXs are powered by super-Eddington accretion onto black holes, we use the properties of the observ…
We study the optical counterparts of ultraluminous X-ray sources NGC4559 X-10 and NGC4395 ULX-1. Their absolute magnitudes, after taking the reddening into account, are $M_V \approx -5.3$ and $M_V \approx -6.2$, respectively. The spectral energy distribution of the NGC4559 X-10 counterpart is well fitted by a spectrum of an F-type star, whereas NGC4395 ULX-1 has a blue power-law spectrum. Optical spectroscopy of NGC4395 ULX-1 has shown a broad and variable HeII~$λ$4686 emission, which puts this object in line with all the other spectrally-studied ULXs. Using the Swift archival X-ray data for N…
We describe a model of spectral energy distribution in supercritical accretion disks (SCAD) based on the conception by Shakura and Sunyaev. We apply this model to five ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs). In this approach, the disk becomes thick at distances to the center less than the spherization radius, and the temperature dependence is T \propto r^{-1/2}. In this region the disk luminosity is L_bol ~ L_Edd ln(Mdot/Mdot_Edd), and strong wind arises forming a wind funnel above the disk. Outside the spherization radius, the disk is thin and its total luminosity is Eddington, L_Edd. The thin d…
We have performed a set of simulations of expanding, spherically symmetric nebulae inflated by winds from accreting black holes in ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). We implemented a realistic cooling function to account for free-free and bound-free cooling. For all model parameters we considered, the forward shock in the interstellar medium becomes radiative at a radius $\sim $ 100 pc. The emission is primarily in the optical and UV, and the radiative luminosity is about 50% of the total kinetic luminosity of the wind. In contrast, the reverse shock in the wind is adiabatic so long as the te…
In the local Universe, integrated X-ray emission from high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) is dominated by the brightest ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with luminosity >10^40 erg/s. Such rare objects probably also dominated the production of X-rays in the early Universe. We demonstrate that a ULX with Lx~10^40-10^41 erg/s (isotropic-equivalent luminosity in the 0.1-10 keV energy band) shining for ~10^5 years (the expected duration of a supercritically accreting phase in HMXBs) can significantly ionise the ISM in its host dwarf galaxy of total mass M~10^7-10^8 Msun and thereby reduce its opacit…
The discovery of pulsations in several Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) demonstrated that a fraction of ULXs are powered by super-Eddington accretion onto neutron stars (NSs). This opened the debate as to what is the NS to black hole (BH) ratio within the ULX population and what physical mechanism allows ULXs to reach luminosities well in excess of their Eddington luminosity: strong magnetic fields or rather strong outflows that collimate the emission towards the observer. To distinguish between supercritically accreting BHs, weakly or strongly magnetised NSs, we study the long-term X-ray sp…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) represent a class of binary systems that are more luminous than any black hole in our Galaxy. The nature of these objects remained unclear for a long time. The most popular models for the ULXs involve either intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) or stellar-mass black holes accreting at super-Eddington rates. In the last few years our understating of these objects was significantly improved, which made the model of super-Eddington accretion much preferable. Both the X-ray and optical spectra provide evidence for the strong outflows coming from supercritical ac…
Most ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are argued to be powered by supercritical accretion onto compact objects. One of the key questions regarding these objects is whether or not the hard X-rays are geometrically beamed toward the symmetric axis. We propose to test the scenario using disk irradiation, to see how much the outer accretion disk sees the central hard X-rays. We collect a sample of 11 bright ULXs with an identification of a unique optical counterpart, and model their optical fluxes considering two irradiating sources: soft X-rays from the photosphere of the optically thick wind d…
Different accretion regimes onto magnetized NSs in HMXBs are considered: wind-fed supersonic (Bondi) regime at high accretion rates $\dot M\gtrsim 4\times 10^{16}$~[g s$^{-1}$] , subsonic settling regime at lower $\dot M$ and supercritical disc accretion during Roche lobe overflow. In wind-fed stage, NSs in HMXBs reach equilibrium spin periods $P^*$ proportional to binary orbital period $P_b$. At supercritical accretion stage, the system may appear as a pulsating ULX. Population synthesis of Galactic HMXBs using standard assumptions on the binary evolution and NS formation is presented. Compar…
We investigate the spectral and temporal properties of ultra-luminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC~55~ULX1 using {\it Swift}, {\it XMM-Newton} and {\it NuSTAR} observations conducted during 2013--2021. In these observations, the source flux varies by a factor of $\sim 5-6$, and we identify the source mainly in the $soft~ultraluminous$ (SUL) state of ULXs. We fit the X-ray spectra with a two thermal component model consisting of a blackbody (for the soft component) and a disc (for the hard component), and the soft component dominates in these observations. The soft component in the SUL state shows pr…
Many upcoming surveys, particularly in the radio and optical domains, are designed to probe either the temporal and/or the spatial variability of a range of astronomical objects. In the light of these high resolution surveys, we review the subject of ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) sources, which are thought to be accreting black holes for the most part. We also discuss the sub-class of ULXs known as the hyper-luminous X-ray sources, which may be accreting intermediate mass black holes. We focus on some of the open questions that will be addressed with the new facilities, such as the mass of the bl…
Optical and radio observations of shock-ionised bubble nebulae surrounding ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) suggest that they are powered by jets or super-critical outflows presumably launched from the ULX accretion disc. Recent simulations of these systems have shown that the shocked wind can emit thermal X-rays with estimated luminosities $\sim 10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$. In this work, we investigated whether it is possible to detect and spatially resolve the X-ray emission from these systems using archival Chandra observations of the ULX Holmberg IX X-1. This source is an ideal target to study…
We present results from the remaining sources in our search for near-infrared (NIR) candidate counterparts to ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) within $\simeq$ 10 Mpc. We observed 23 ULXs in 15 galaxies and detected NIR candidate counterparts to six of them. Two of these have an absolute magnitude consistent with a single red supergiant (RSG). Three counterparts are too bright for a RSG and spatially extended, and thus we classify them as stellar clusters. The other candidate is too faint for a RSG. Additionally, we present the results of our NIR spectroscopic follow-up of five sources: four …
The observed X-ray luminosity of SS 433 is ~10^36 erg/s, it is known that all the radiation is formed in the famous SS 433 jets. The bolometric luminosity of SS 433 is ~10^40 erg/s, and originally the luminosity must be realized in X-rays. The original radiation is probably thermalized in the supercritical accretion disk wind, however the missing more than four orders of magnitude is surprising. We have analysed the XMM-Newton spectra of SS 433 using a model of adiabatically and radiatively cooling X-ray jets. The multi-temperature thermal jet model reproduces very well the strongest observed …
In the extragalactic sky, microquasars and ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are known as energetic compact objects locating at off-nucleus positions in galaxies. Some of these objects are associated with expanding bubbles with a velocity of 80-250 ${\rm km~s^{-1}}$. We investigate the shock acceleration of particles in those expanding nebulae. The nebulae having fast expansion velocity $\gtrsim120~{\rm km~s^{-1}}$ are able to accelerate cosmic rays up to $\sim100$ TeV. If 10% of the shock kinetic energy goes into particle acceleration, powerful nebulae such as the microquasar S26 in NGC 779…
Ultraluminous pulsars are a definite proof that persistent super-Eddington accretion occurs in nature. They support the scenario according to which most Ultraluminous X-ray Sources (ULXs) are super-Eddington accretors of stellar mass rather than sub-Eddington intermediate mass black holes. An important prediction of theories of supercritical accretion is the existence of powerful outflows of moderately ionized gas at mildly relativistic speeds. In practice, the spectral resolution of X-ray gratings such as RGS onboard XMM-Newton is required to resolve their observational signatures in ULXs. Us…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are extragalactic X-ray emitters located off-center of their host galaxy and with a luminosity in excess of a few ${10^{39}\text{ erg s}^{-1}}$, if emitted isotropically. The discovery of periodic modulation revealed that in some ULXs the accreting compact object is a neutron star, indicating luminosities substantially above their Eddington limit. The most extreme object in this respect is ${NGC 5907~ULX-1}$ (ULX1), with a peak luminosity that is 500 times its Eddington limit. During a Chandra observation to probe a low state of ULX1, we detected diffuse X-ra…
Most ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) display a typical set of properties not seen in Galactic stellar-mass black holes (BHs): higher luminosity Lx > 3 10^39 erg/s, unusually soft X-ray components (kT < 0.3 keV) and a characteristic downturn in their spectra above ~ 5 keV. Such puzzling properties have been interpreted either as evidence of intermediate-mass BHs, or as emission from stellar-mass BHs accreting above their Eddington limit, analogous to some Galactic BHs at peak luminosity. Recently, a very soft X-ray spectrum has been observed in a rare and transient stellar-mass BH. Here we s…
Despite two decades of studies, it is still not clear whether ULX spectral transitions are due to stochastic variability in the wind or variations in the accretion rate or in the source geometry. The compact object is also unknown for most ULXs. In order to place constraints onto such scenarios and on the structure of the accretion disc, we studied the temporal evolution of the spectral components of the variable source NGC 55 ULX-1. Using recent and archival data obtained with the XMM-Newton satellite, we modelled the spectra with two blackbody components which we interpret as thermal emissio…
Multi-wavelength spectroscopic analysis of the ULX Holmberg II X-1 and its nebula suggests the presence of a heavy black hole accreting from a B-type donor
本研究首次对ULX Holmberg II X-1进行多波段光谱分析，发现其光学/紫外辐射来自B型超巨星伴星，而非吸积盘，并推断系统包含约66倍太阳质量的黑洞，可能为引力波源前身。
We present new radio, optical, and X-ray observations of three Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) that are associated with large-scale nebulae. We report the discovery of a radio nebula associated with the ULX IC342 X-1 using the Very Large Array (VLA). Complementary VLA observations of the nebula around Holmberg II X-1, and high-frequency Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and Very Large Telescope (VLT) spectroscopic observations of NGC5408 X-1 are also presented. We study the morphology, ionization processes, and the energetics of the optical/radio nebulae of IC342 X-1, Holmberg II X-1…
The aim of the present paper is to investigate a possible contribution of the rotation-powered pulsars and pulsar wind nebulae to the population of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). We first develop an analytical model for the evolution of the distribution function of pulsars over the spin period and find both the steady-state and the time-dependent solutions. Using the recent results on the X-ray efficiency dependence on pulsar characteristic age, we then compute the X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of rotation-powered pulsars. In a general case it has a broken power-law shape with a high lu…
The bubble nebula surrounding NGC 1313 X-2 is believed to be powered by high velocity winds from the central ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) as a result of supercritical accretion. With the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) observation of the nebula, we find enhanced OIII emission at locations spatially coincident with clusters of stars and the central X-ray source, suggesting that photoionization in addition to shock-ionization plays an important role in powering the nebula. The X-ray luminosity of the ULX and the number of massive stars in the nebula region can account for the requir…
We report the identification of the optical counterpart to the transient ultraluminuos X-ray source in the blue dwarf galaxy UGC6456 (VII Zw 403). The source is highly variable in both the X-ray (more 100 times, 0.3-10 keV) and optical (more 3 times, V band) ranges. The peak X-ray luminosity of UGC6456 ULX exceeds $10^{40}$ erg/s; the absolute magnitude when the source is optically bright is M$_V = -8.24\pm0.11$, which makes this source one of the brightest ULXs in the optical range. We found a correlation between the optical and X-ray fluxes (with a coefficient of $0.9\pm 0.3$), which may ind…
Transient ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) provide an important link bridging transient low-mass X-ray binaries and ULXs. Here we report the first discovery of both a canonical sub-Eddington outburst and an ultraluminous super-Eddington outburst from an unusual transient ULX, NGC 7793 P9 with a variability factor higher than $10^3$. Its X-ray spectrum switches between the typical high/soft state and the steep power-law state during the canonical outburst. The inner radius of the accretion disk and the disk temperature--luminosity correlation suggest that P9 harbors a stellar-mass black hole …
The presence of large ionised gaseous nebulae found around some ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) provides the means to assess the mechanical and radiative feedback of the central source, and hence constrain the efficiency and impact on the surroundings of the super-Eddington regime powering most of these sources. NGC 1313 X--1 is an archetypal ULX which has been reported to be surrounded by abnormally high [O I]$λ$6300/H$α>$ 0.1 ratios and for which high-resolution spectroscopy in X-rays has hinted the presence of powerful outflows. We report observations taken with the Multi-Unit Spectrosco…
JWST reveals a highly ionized nebula powered by an ultraluminous X-ray source with a massive black hole in the metal-poor galaxy Holmberg II
Space Telescope Science Institute（太空望远镜科学研究所）；AURA for ESA, Space Telescope Science Institute（欧洲航天局天文研究联盟，太空望远镜科学研究所）；Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Potsdam（波茨坦大学物理与天文学研究所）；Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent（根特大学天文台）；Institute of Space Sciences (ICE, CSIC)（空间科学研究所（地球物理与化学研究所，西班牙国家研究委员会））；Centro de Astrobiología – Departamento de Astrofísica (CSIC-INTA)（天体生物学中心 - 天体物理学系（西班牙国家研究委员会-国家航空航天技术研究所））
本研究通过JWST光谱观测，首次在ULX Ho II X-1周围探测到[Ne V]和[Ne VI]，直接证实该ULX关联低金属丰度星系中的高度电离星云，其电离由吸积黑洞驱动，电离条件呈各向异性。
Neutrinos from hidden ultraluminous X-ray sources in the Galaxy
Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía (CCT La Plata, CONICET（阿根廷射电天文研究所）；CICPBA（拉普拉塔国立大学天文与地球物理学院）；UNLP)（马德普拉塔物理研究所）；Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata（马德普拉塔国立大学理学院物理系）；Instituto de Investigaciones Físicas de Mar del Plata (IFIMAR – CONICET)；Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata
Using archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging data, we report the multiband photometric properties of 13 ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) that have a unique compact optical counterpart. Both magnitude and color variation are detected at time scales of days to years. The optical color, variability, and X-ray to optical flux ratio indicate that the optical emission of most ULXs is dominated by X-ray reprocessing on the disk, similar to that of low mass X-ray binaries. For most sources, the optical spectrum is a power-law, $F_ν \propto ν^α$ with $α$ in the range 1.0 to 2.0 and the optical…
We present a high-quality hard X-ray spectrum of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC 5643 X-1 measured with NuSTAR in May-June 2014. We have obtained this spectrum by carefully separating the signals from the ULX and from the active nucleus of its host galaxy NGC 5643 located 0.8 arcmin away. Together with long XMM-Newton observations performed in July 2009 and August 2014, the NuSTAR data confidently reveal a high-energy cutoff in the spectrum of NGC 5643 X-1 above ~10 keV, which is a characteristic signature of ULXs. The NuSTAR and XMM-Newton data are consistent with the source having a…
Radio counterparts of ultraluminous X-ray sources in nearby galaxies
Tsinghua University（清华大学）；Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院高能物理研究所）；INAF-Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino（意大利国家天体物理研究所都灵天文台）
We have analysed the XMM-Newton spectra of SS 433 using a standard model of adiabatically and radiatively cooling X-ray jets. The multi-temperature thermal jet model reproduces well the strongest observed emission line fluxes. The thermal model alone can not reproduce the continuum radiation in the XMM spectral range, the fluorescent iron line and some broad spectral features. Using the thermal jet-plus-reflection model, we find a notable contribution of ionized reflection to the spectrum in the energy range from ~3 to 12 keV. The reflecting surface is highly ionized (xi ~300), the illuminatin…
We present a new analysis of X-ray spectra of the archetypal ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) Holmberg IX X-1 obtained by the Swift, XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observatories. This ULX is a persistent source, with a typical luminosity of ~10^40 erg s^-1, that varied by a factor of 4 - 5 over eight years. We find that its spectra tend to evolve from relatively flat or two-component spectra in the medium energy band (1-6 keV), at lower luminosities, to a spectrum that is distinctly curved and disc-like at the highest luminosities, with the peak energy in the curved spectrum tending to decrease with in…
Photoionization of the Composite Nebula Surrounding NGC 5408 X-1: Implications for Beamed Emission
Tsinghua University（清华大学）；Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院高能物理研究所）；INAF–Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino（意大利国家天体物理研究所都灵天文台）；The University of Sydney（悉尼大学）；European Southern Observatory（欧洲南方天文台）；Xiamen University（厦门大学）
3D Moving-mesh Hydrodynamical Simulations of Wind/Jet Driven Ultraluminous X-ray Source Bubbles
Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba（筑波大学计算科学中心）；Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院高能物理研究所）；Tsinghua University（清华大学）
We report the discovery of a new ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) 2XMM J125048.6+410743 within the spiral galaxy M94. The source has been observed by ROSAT, Chandra, and XMM-Newton on several occasions, exhibiting as a highly variable persistent source or a recurrent transient with a flux variation factor of >100, a high duty cycle (at least ~70%), and a peak luminosity of Lx ~ 2X10^{39} erg/s (0.2-10 keV, absorbed). In the brightest observation, the source is similar to typical low-luminosity ULXs, with the spectrum showing a high-energy cutoff but harder than that from a standard accretion d…
We evaluate the emission that must arise due to reflection of the putative collimated X-ray radiation of SS 433 by atomic gas and molecular clouds in the Galactic plane and compare the predicted signal with existing RXTE and ASCA data for the region of interest. Assuming that the intrinsic X-ray spectrum of SS 433 is similar to that of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), we obtain an upper limit of $\sim 2\times 10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$ on its total (angular-integrated) luminosity in the 2--10 keV energy band, which is only weakly dependent on the half-opening angle, $Θ_r$, of the emission cone. …
Ultraluminous X-ray sources in the first eROSITA survey I. Candidate catalogs
Dr. Karl Remeis-Sternwarte and Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg（弗里德里希-亚历山大埃尔朗根-纽伦堡大学卡尔·雷梅斯天文台和埃尔朗根高能天体物理中心）；Durham University（杜伦大学）；Institute of Astrophysics, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas（希腊研究基金会天体物理研究所）；Physics Department, & Institute of Theoretical and Computational Physics, University of Crete（克里特大学物理系及理论与计算物理研究所）；Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik（马克斯·普朗克地外物理研究所）
