Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in External Galaxies

By A. King, M. Davies, M. Ward, G. Fabbiano, M. D. U. O. Leicester, H. C. F. Astrophysics. 2001

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We investigate models for the class of ultraluminous nonnuclear X-ray sources (i.e., ultraluminous compact X-ray sources [ULXs]) seen in a number of galaxies and probably associated with star-forming regions. Models in which the X-ray emission is assumed to be isotropic run into several difficulties. In particular, the formation of sufficient numbers of the required ultramassive black hole X-ray binaries is problematic, and the likely transient behavior of the resulting systems is not in good accord with observation. The assumption of mild X-ray beaming suggests instead that ULXs may represent a short-lived but extremely common stage in the evolution of a wide class of X-ray binaries. The best candidate for this is the phase of thermal-timescale mass transfer that is inevitable in many intermediate- and high-mass X-ray binaries. This in turn suggests a link with the Galactic microquasars. The short lifetimes of high-mass X-ray binaries would explain the association of ULXs with episodes of star formation. These considerations still allow the possibility that individual ULXs may contain extremely massive black holes.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b0e353ed127eb0eda9cabe23ac5244f36ee066c4

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Citations in the corpus

Young Massive Star Clusters (2010, background): “We limit ourselves here to the most striking x-ray sources, the subclass of ultra-luminous x-ray sources (ULXs), which are characterized by x-ray luminosity Lx >∼ 1.3 × 1039 erg/s, the maximum isotropic luminosity that can be produced by a 10M⊙ black hole accreting pure hydrogen (King et al. 2001).”
A GLOBAL THREE-DIMENSIONAL RADIATION MAGNETO-HYDRODYNAMIC SIMULATION OF SUPER-EDDINGTON ACCRETION DISKS (2014, background): “Moderate to large degrees of geometric beaming have previously been invoked to explain ULX luminosities (e.g. King et al. 2001; King 2009).”
On the formation and evolution of black hole binaries (2002, background): “These super-Eddington accretion rates may be significantly reduced if beaming of the X-ray flux is important in these systems (King et al. 2001).”
The Runaway Growth of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in Dense Star Clusters (2002, background): “These authors conclude that many of these sources may be e100 M accreting black holes (although alternative explanations exist— see, e.g., Mizuno 1999a; King et al. 2001).”
The Milky Way in X-rays for an outside observer (2001, background): “See also the discussion by Koerding et al. (2001), Fabrika & Mescheryakov (2000) and King et al. (2001).”
X-Ray Spectroscopic Evidence for Intermediate-Mass Black Holes: Cool Accretion Disks in Two Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources (2002, background): “Anisotropic emission from stellar-mass black holes may be abl to account for the flux observed in some ULX sources (King et al. 2001).”
A Catalog of Candidate Intermediate-Luminosity X-Ray Objects (2002, background): “Therefore IXOs, if powered by accretion and not beamed (cf. King et al. 2001 and Koerding, Falcke & Markoff 2002 for discussions on beaming), have intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs).”
Black hole winds (2003, background): “This is in line with the suggestion (King et al., 2001; King, 2002) that ULXs are X–ray binaries where the current accretion rate Ṁ > ∼ ṀEdd.”
The distances to Galactic low-mass X-ray binaries: consequences for black hole luminosities and kicks (2004, background): “These systems are thought to contain intermediate mass BHs (Colbert & Mushotzky 1999) or stellar mass BHs where the emission is anisotropic (King et al. 2001) or indeed super– Eddington (Begelman 2002).”
What drives the growth of black holes (2011, background): “ULXs likely comprise a heterogenous population (see King et al. 2001; Begelman 2002; Roberts 2007 and Gladstone et al. 2009 for a broader discussion of the nature of ULXs), of which a sizeable fraction are stellar-mass BHs accreting at super-Eddington rates.”
The nature of SS433 and the ultraluminous X-ray sources (2006, background): “These are reminiscent of the W50 nebula around SS433, reinforcing our suggestion that ULXs are super-Eddington accreting binaries like SS433.”
The Ultraluminous State (2009, background): “…of ULXs are single stellar remnant black holes that accrete material from a close companion star, probably at super-Eddington rates and/or with their X-ray emission subject to some degree of geometric beaming (e.g. King et al. 2001, Begelman 2002; see also Roberts 2007 and references therein).”
The Ultraluminous X-Ray Source Population from the Chandra Archive of Galaxies (2004, background): “Does the model of King et al. (2001) provide a viable explanation for the results of the present survey?”
Chandra Observations of “The Antennae” Galaxies (NGC 4038/4039). III. X-Ray Properties and Multiwavelength Associations of the X-Ray Source Population (2002, background): “Other suggested possibilities include beamed lower mass binaries (King et al. 2001) and luminous SNRs exploding in dense media ( 106 cm 3; cSNRs; e.g., Plewa 1995; Fabian & Terlevich 1996).”
Ultraluminous X-ray sources in the Chandra and XMM-Newton era (2011, background): “However, some models suggest that the Eddington limit could be violated by a factor up to∼10 for stellar mass BHs (Begelman 2002), and the X-ray luminosity may be overestimated due to anisotropic emission caused by geometric beaming expected at high accretion rate (King et al. 2001).”
High-resolution imaging of the He II λ4686 emission line nebula associated with the ultraluminous X-ray source in Holmberg II (2004, background): “King et al. (2001) have suggested that ULXs are high-mass X-ray binaries with super-Eddington mass transfer rates in which the X-ray emission is funnelled, producing high observed X-ray fluxes for observers near the beaming axis.”
Intermediate - mass black holes (2003, background): “For the thermal timescale mass transfer suggested by King et al. (2001), the mass transfer rate is well above Eddington, which might have been expected to produce rapid transient obscuration of the source (although without detailed models it is difficult to say this with certainty).”
An Overview of the Performance and Scientific Results from the Chandra X‐Ray Observatory (2001, background): “King et al. (2001) argue that the ultraluminous sources might be beamed and discuss a link with microquasars.”
GLOBAL STRUCTURE OF THREE DISTINCT ACCRETION FLOWS AND OUTFLOWS AROUND BLACK HOLES FROM TWO-DIMENSIONAL RADIATION-MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC SIMULATIONS (2011, background): “…the past decade: subcritical accretion onto intermediate-mass black holes with the black hole mass greatly exceeding 100M⊙ (e.g., Makishima et al. 2000; Miller et al. 2004) and supercritical accretion onto stellar-mass black holes with mass of 3 − 20M⊙ (e.g., King et al. 2001; Watarai et al. 2001).”