Chandra High-Resolution Camera observations of the luminous X-ray source in the starburst galaxy M82

By P. Kaaret, A. Prestwich, A. Zezas, S. Murray, Dong-Woo Kim, R. Kilgard, E. M. Schlegel, M. Ward. 2000

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We have analyzed Chandra High Resolution Camera observations of the starburst galaxy M82, concentrating on the most luminous x-ray source. We find a position for the source of $\rm R.A. = 09^h 55^m 50^s.2, decl. = +69^{\circ} 40\arcmin 46\arcsec.7$ (J2000) with a $1\sigma$ radial error of $0.7\arcsec$. The accurate x-ray position shows that the luminous source is not at the dynamical centre of M82 nor coincident with any suggested radio AGN candidate. The source is highly variable between observations, which suggests that the source is a compact object and not a supernova or remnant. There is no significant short term variability within the observations. Dynamical friction and the off-center position place an upper bound of $10^{5} - 10^{6} M_{\odot}$ on the mass of the object, depending on its age. The x-ray luminosity suggests a compact object mass of at least $500 M_{\odot}$. Thus, the luminous source in M82 may represent a new class of compact object with a mass intermediate between those of stellar mass black hole candidates and supermassive black holes.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/07189e289bab728d53376ee83befe9fa97769079

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Citations in the corpus

Massive Black Holes in Star Clusters. II. Realistic Cluster Models (2004, background): “The irregular galaxy M82, for example, hosts an ULX with luminosity L > 1040 ergs/sec near its centre (Matsumoto et al. 2001; Kaaret et al. 2001) the position of which coincides with that of the young (T ≈ 10 Myrs) star cluster MGG-11.”
Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in External Galaxies (2001, background): “Indeed this has been proposed as the origin of the moderate–mass black hole inferred to be present in the central regions of M82 (Matsushita et al 2000, Matsumoto et al. 2001, Kaaret et al., 2001).”
Young Massive Star Clusters (2010, background): “Ground-based observations revealed numerous “bluish knots” and “super-star clusters” in the starburst galaxies M82 and NGC 1569 (van den Bergh 1971, Arp & Sandage 1985), and in the relatively local ongoing galaxy mergers NGC 7252 and NGC 3597 (Schweizer 1982, Lutz 1991).”
Stellar Processes Near the Massive Black Hole in the Galactic Center (2005, background): “At the other end of the mass spectrum lie IBHs (102 .m.104M⊙), whose existence is still a matter of speculation (e.g. Kaaret et al2001; Hopman, Portegies-Zwart & Alexander2004; Portegies Zwart et al. 2004; see review by Miller & Colbert2004).”
A High Spatial Resolution X-Ray and Hα Study of Hot Gas in the Halos of Star-forming Disk Galaxies. I. Spatial and Spectral Properties of the Diffuse X-Ray Emission (2003, background): “It is worth noting that the offnuclear intermediate luminosity X-ray object (Kaaret et al. 2001; Matsumoto et al. 2001) lies outside shell 3, weakening the argument by Matsushita et al. (2000) that the two are related.”
Intermediate - mass black holes (2003, background): “…et al. 2001, La Parola et al. 2001, Wang 2002, Liu et al. 2002), Ho II (Miyaji et al. 2001), M82 (Ptak & Griffiths 1999, Matsumoto & Tsuru 1999, Kaaret et al. 2001, Matsumoto et al. 2001), IC 342 (Sugiho et al. 2001, Kubota et al. 2001), Circinus (Bauer et al. 2001), NGC 4485/90 (Roberts et…”
Cosmic X-ray surveys of distant active galaxies (2015, background): “Significantly variable sources that also have X-ray luminosities larger than ≈ 1041 erg s−1 are likely to be AGNs, although there are rare notable exceptions (e.g., Kaaret et al 2001; Webb et al 2010).”
Formation of Massive Black Holes in Dense Star Clusters. I. Mass Segregation and Core Collapse (2003, background): “…with young star clusters and whose high X-ray luminosities in many cases suggest a compact object mass of at least ∼ 10 2 M ⊙ (Ebisuzaki et al. 2001; Kaaret et al. 2001; Miller et al. 2003), although beamed emission by an accreting stellarmass BH provides an alternative explanation (King et al.…”
Observational evidence for intermediate-mass black holes (2017, methodology): “…second strongest IMBH among HLXs because of its variability (Ptak & Griffiths 1999; Kaaret & Feng 2007), peak X-ray luminosity above 1041 erg s−1 (Kaaret et al. 2001; Matsumoto et al. 2001), spectral transitions similar to those of standard BHs (Feng & Kaaret 2010), and low-frequency QPOs…”
The Runaway Growth of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Dense Star Clusters (2002, methodology): “Using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Kaaret et al. (2000, 2001) andMatsumoto et al. (2000, 2001) recently discovered nine bright X-ray sources in the irregular galaxy M82.”
Production of intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters (2001, background): “…galaxies that have fluxes corresponding to isotropic X-ray luminosities in excess of ∼ 1039 erg s−1 (e.g., Fabbiano 1989; Fabbiano, Schweizer, & Mackie 1997; Colbert & Mushotzky 1999; Zezas, Georgantopoulos, & Ward 1999; Kaaret et al. 2001; Matsumoto et al. 2001; Fabbiano, Zezas, & Murray 2001).”