Related papers: X-ray observations of ultraluminous X-ray sources
Despite much observational and theoretical effort little is presently known about the nature of the luminous non-nuclear X-ray sources which appear to largely surpass the Eddington limit of a few solar masses. Here we present first results…
We explore the nature of ultraluminous X-ray sources through detailed investigations of their spectral shape using some of the highest quality data available in the XMM-Newton public archives. Phenomenological models allow us to…
Nearby galaxies host ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs), whose nature remains largely unknown. Until the discovery of the first ULX pulsar, M82 X-2, the mechanism powering the large luminosities of most ULXs was thought to be…
Ultra-/hyper-luminous X-ray sources (ULX/HLX) could be interesting laboratories to improve our understanding of the supermassive black hole growth through super-Eddington accretion episodes and successive mergers of lighter holes. ULXs are…
In order to explain unusually high luminosity and spectral nature of ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs), some of the underlying black holes are argued to be of intermediate mass, between several tens to million solar masses. Indeed, there…
A sub-set of the brightest ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), with X-ray luminosities well above $10^{40}$ erg s$^{-1}$, typically have energy spectra which can be well described as hard power-laws, and short-term variability in excess of…
We present results of a Chandra survey of the ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULX) in 13 normal galaxies, in which we combine source detection with X-ray flux measurement. 22 ULX were detected, i.e. with L_x > 1 x 10^{39} erg s^{-1} (L_10),…
The nature of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) is not yet fully understood but it can be done in the most efficient way by analyzing its optical emission and environment. We present preliminary results of photometric and spectral studies…
We have searched for ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in a sample of 28 elliptical and S0 galaxies observed with Chandra. We find that the number of X-ray sources detected at a flux level that would correspond to a 0.3-10 keV X-ray…
The emission-line dwarf galaxy NGC 3413 is known to host a bright X-ray source near its optical center. The 0.3-10 keV luminosity of this source is estimated to be approximately 10$^{39}$ erg$s^{-1}$ potentially qualifying it as an…
The faintest ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), those with 0.3-10 keV luminosities 1 < L_X/10^39 < 3 erg s^-1, tend to have X-ray spectra that are disk-like but broader than expected for thin accretion disks. These `broadened disk' spectra…
We present spectroscopic observations of six optical counterparts of intermediate luminosity X-ray sources (ULXs) around nearby galaxies. The spectra of the six objects show the presence of broad emission features. The identification of…
Most ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are believed to be stellar mass black holes or neutron stars accreting beyond the Eddington limit. Determining the nature of the compact object and the accretion mode from broadband spectroscopy is…
Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are those X-ray sources located away from the centre of their host galaxy with luminosities exceeding the Eddington limit of a stellar-mass black hole ($L_X>10^{39}\;{\rm erg\,s}^{-1}$). The discovery of…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) have been objects of great interest for the past few decades due to their unusually high luminosities and spectral properties. A few of these sources exhibit super-Eddington luminosities assuming them to…
We present highlights from a study of a sample of 10 extreme-luminosity candidate ultraluminous X-ray sources (L_X > 5 x 10^(40) erg sec^(-1)), all at distances < 100 Mpc, identified from a cross-correlation of the RC3 catalogue of galaxies…
In this proof-of-concept study we demonstrate that in a binary system mass can be transferred toward an accreting compact object at extremely high rate. If the transferred mass is efficiently converted to X-ray luminosity (with disregard of…
A new, transient ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) was recently discovered by Chandra in M31 with a luminosity at ~ 5 x 10^39 erg/s. Here we analyse a series of five subsequent XMM-Newton observations. The steady decline in X-ray luminosity…
We present a new, multi-mission catalogue of ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) candidates, based on recent data releases from each of the XMM-Newton, Swift and Chandra observatories (the 4XMM-DR10, 2SXPS and CSC2 catalogues, respectively).…
We present the results of an archival XMM-Newton study of the bright X-ray point sources (L_X > 10^38 erg/s) in 32 nearby galaxies. From our list of approximately 100 point sources, we attempt to determine if there is a low-state…