Related papers: X-ray Transients: Hyper- or Hypo-Luminous?
We present evidence for a simple linear relationship between the orbital period and super-orbital period in ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) pulsars, akin to what is seen in the population of disc-fed neutron star super-giant X-ray binary and…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are amongst the most intriguing of X-ray source classes. Their extreme luminosities - greater than 10^39 erg/s in the 0.3 - 10 keV band alone - suggest either the presence of black holes larger than those…
Aims. We analyzed multi-epoch X-ray data of the Ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) NGC 5055 X-1, with luminosity up to $2.32\times10^{40}\ \rm erg\ s^{-1}$, in order to constrain the physical parameters of the source. Methods. We performed…
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…
We propose that the shape of the upper-end X-ray luminosity function observed in elliptical galaxies for point sources is a footprint of the black-hole (BH) mass spectrum among old X-ray transients formed in the galaxies. We show that this…
The mass transfer in binaries with massive donors and compact companions, when the donors rapidly evolve after their main sequence, is one of the dominant formation channels of merging double stellar-mass black hole binaries. This mass…
We discuss two important instability mechanisms that may lead to the limit-cycle oscillations of the luminosity of the accretion disks around compact objects: ionization instability and radiation-pressure instability. Ionization instability…
We examined the variability of three ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in the 2003, 110 ks XMM-Newton observation of NGC253. Remarkably, we discovered ULX1 to be three times more variable than ULX2 in the 0.3--10 keV band, even though…
The outbursts of black hole X-ray transients can be understood as caused by a limit cycle instability in the accretion disk, similar to dwarf nova outbursts. For adequately low mass overflow rates from the companion star long outburst…
The X-ray spectral and timing properties of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) have many similarities with the very high state of stellar-mass black holes (power-law dominated, at accretion rates greater than the Eddington rate). On the…
In this paper we report on the spectral analysis of seven X-ray transients, which were found to be active during a monitoring campaign of the Galactic center carried out in 2006 and 2007 using the X-ray telescope aboard the Swift satellite.…
Recent Chandra observations of nearby galaxies have revealed a number of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with super-Eddington luminosities, away from the central regions of non-active galaxies. The nature of these sources is still…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are mostly extragalactic non-nuclear point sources having X-ray luminosity exceeding the Eddington luminosity of 10 $M_\odot$ black hole i.e., $L_X \geq $ 10$^{39}$ erg ~s$^{-1}$. They are observed in all…
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…
We analyzed in a systematic way the public INTEGRAL observations spanning from December 2002 to September 2016, to investigate the hard X-ray properties of about 60 High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs). We considered both persistent and…
X-rays trace accretion onto compact objects in binaries with low mass companions at rates ranging up to near Eddington. Accretion at high rates onto neutron stars goes through cycles with time-scales of days to months. At lower average…
Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are the most extreme members of the X-ray binary population, exhibiting X-ray luminosities that can surpass the 10^39 erg/s threshold (by orders of magnitude). They are mainly seen in external galaxies…
We have analyzed observations of the black hole transient {GX 339$-$4} made with the {\it Rossi} X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on board the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory (CGRO). We have…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are mainly powered by accretion in neutron stars or stellar-mass black holes. Accreting at rates exceeding the Eddington limit by factors of a few up to hundreds, radiation pressure is expected to inflate…
We present a model for the prediction of the optical/infra-red emission from ULXs. In the model, ULXs are binary systems with accretion taking place through Roche lobe overflow. We show that irradiation effects and presence of an accretion…