Related papers: Ultraluminous X-ray sources
The recent discovery of pulsating ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) shows that the apparent luminosity of accreting neutron stars (NSs) can exceed the Eddington luminosity by a factor of hundreds. The relation between the actual and…
Most Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are thought to be powered by super-Eddington accretion onto stellar-mass compact objects. Accretors in this extreme regime are naturally expected to ionise copious amounts of plasma in their vicinity…
The premise that Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) exist beyond the optical extent of nearby galaxies is investigated. A published catalog containing 41 ULX candidates located between 1 and ~3 times the standard D_{25} isophotal radius 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),…
It is now widely accepted that most ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are binary systems whose large (above $10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$) apparent luminosities are explained by super-Eddington accretion onto a stellar-mass compact object. Many…
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…
Constraining the astrophysical nature of Ultra-Luminous X-ray (ULX) sources, which have X-ray luminosities exceeding 10^39 erg/s, has been elusive due to the optical faintness of any counterparts. With high spectral resolution observations…
Despite the 30-year history of ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) studies, issues like the majority of their physical natures (i.e., neutron stars, stellar-mass black holes, or intermediate black holes) as well as the accretion mechanisms…
The classical limit on the accretion luminosity of a neutron star is given by the Eddington luminosity. The advanced models of accretion onto magnetized neutron stars account for the appearance of magnetically confined accretion columns and…
Although ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULX) are important for astrophysics due to their extreme apparent super-Eddington luminosities, their nature is still poorly known. Theoretical and observational studies suggest that ULXs could be a…
Cool thermal emission components have recently been revealed in the X-ray spectra of a small number of ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) sources with L_X > 1 E+40 erg/s in nearby galaxies. These components can be well fitted with accretion disk…
A thorough search for Ultraluminous X-ray source candidates within the Local Volume is made. The search spatially matches potential ULXs detected in X-ray images or cataloged in the literature with galaxies tabulated in the Catalog of…
Accumulating evidence indicates that some of ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs), but the formation process of IMBHs is unknown. One possibility is that they were formed as remnants of population…
Ultraluminous pulsars are a definite proof that persistent super-Eddington accretion occurs in nature. They support the scenario according to which most Ultraluminous X-ray Sources (ULXs) are super-Eddington accretors of stellar mass rather…
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 Ultra Luminous X-ray Sources (ULXs) are unique in exhibiting moderately bright X-ray luminosities, $L_{\rm x} \sim 10^{38-40} {\rm erg~s^{-1}}$, and relatively high blackbody temperatures, $\Tin \sim 1.0-2.0 {\rm keV}$. From the…
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…
A number of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are physically associated with extragalactic globular clusters (GCs). We undertake a systematic X-ray analysis of eight of the brightest of these sources. We fit the spectra of the GC ULXs to…
Multiwavelength observations may help us understand the physical nature of the ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) found in external galaxies. Enabled by the arcsecond X-ray source positions now available from Chandra, there has been…
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…