Related papers: Ultrafast outflows in ultraluminous X-ray sources
The presence or lack of eclipses in the X-ray lightcurves of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) can be directly linked to the accreting system geometry. In the case where the compact object is stellar mass and radiates isotropically, we…
Ultraluminous X-ray Sources (ULXs) provide a unique opportunities to probe the geometry and energetics of super-Eddington accretion. The radiative processes involved in super-Eddington accretion are not well understood, and so studying…
(Abridged) We present results based on XMM-Newton observation of the nearby spiral galaxy M51 (NGC5194 and NGC5195). Two ULXs in NGC5194 show evidence for short-term variability, and all but two ULXs vary on long time scales (over a…
Ultra-Luminous X-ray sources (ULX) are X-ray binaries with Lx>1E^39 ergs/s. The most spectacular examples of ULX occur in starburst galaxies and are now understood to be young, luminous High Mass X-ray Binaries. The conditions under which…
We consider the three currently known pulsing ultraluminous X--ray sources (PULXs). We show that in one of them the observed spinup rate requires super--Eddington accretion rates at the magnetospheric radius, even if magnetar--strength…
Ultraluminous X-ray binaries have challenged our assumptions of extreme accretion rates in X-ray binaries, and impact other subfields of astronomy, such as cosmology, gravitational wave sources and supernov{\ae}. Our understanding of ULXs…
We have studied an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in NGC 4559 with XMM-Newton, and its peculiar star-forming environment with HST/WFPC2. The X-ray source is one of the brightest in its class (L_x ~ 2 x 10^{40} erg/s). Luminosity and…
The closest known ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX), M33 X-8, has been recently observed with NuSTAR during its Extragalactic Legacy program, which includes a hard X-ray survey of the M33 galaxy. We present results of two long observations…
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…
We report on the discovery of a new, transient ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in the galaxy NGC 7090. This new ULX, which we refer to as NGC 7090 ULX3, was discovered via monitoring with $Swift$ during 2019-20, and to date has exhibited a…
Here we show that the overabundance of ultra-luminous, compact X-ray sources (ULXs) associated with moderately young clusters in interacting galaxies such as the Antennae and Cartwheel can be given an alternative explanation that does not…
We study the evolution of binary systems of Ultra-luminous X-ray sources and compute their optical emission assuming accretion onto a black hole via a non standard, advection-dominated slim disc with an outflow. We consider systems with…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with X-ray luminosities larger than the Eddington luminosity of stellar mass objects may be powered by intermediate mass black holes (IBHs) of masses Mbh~10^3Msun. If IBHs form in young dense stellar…
A significant fraction of ultraluminous X-ray sources appear to be embedded in observable ionized nebulae that take the form of large, several 100 pc diameter interstellar bubbles. Here we review optical observations of these bubbles, their…
We present a comprehensive spectro-temporal analysis of five ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with central object likely being a black hole, using archival {\it XMM-Newton} observations. These sources, namely NGC 1313 X-1, NGC 5408 X-1,…
One of the interesting features of Ultraluminous X-ray sources is that many of them are surrounded by luminous nebulae exhibiting diverse observational properties. In different cases the nebulae are photoionized or shock-powered. Generally,…
Ultraluminous X-ray Sources (ULXs) in globular clusters are low mass X-ray binaries that achieve high X-ray luminosities through a currently uncertain accretion mechanism. Using archival Chandra and Hubble Space Telescope observations, we…
Following a serendipitous detection with the NuSTAR observatory, we present a multi-epoch spectral and temporal analysis of an extreme ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) located in the outskirts of the Circinus galaxy, hereafter Circinus…
We summarize indirect empirical arguments used for estimating black hole (BH) masses in ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). The interpretation of the X-ray data is still too model-dependent to provide tight constraints, but masses <~ 100…
We assess the claim that Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) host intermediate-mass black holes (BH) by comparing the cool disc-blackbody model with a range of other models, namelly a more complex physical model based on a power-law…