Related papers: An Observational Diagnostic for Ultraluminous X-Ra…
The black hole mass and accretion rate in Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in external galaxies, whose X-ray luminosities exceed those of the brightest black holes in our Galaxy by hundreds and thousands of times$^{1,2}$, is an unsolved…
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…
It was recently proposed that a significant fraction of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) actually host a neutron star (NS) accretor. We have performed a systematic study on the NS ULX population in Milky Way-like galaxies, by combining…
The brightest Ultra-Luminous X-ray source (ULX), ESO 243-49 HLX-1, with a 0.2 - 10 keV X-ray luminosity of up to 10^42 erg s^-1, provides the strongest evidence to date for the existence of intermediate mass black holes. Although small…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULX) are extragalactic objects with X-ray luminosities above the Eddington limit for a 10 Msun black hole (BH). ULXs may host super-Eddington accreting neutron stars or stellar mass BH, although the exact…
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…
One hundred fifty-four discrete non-nuclear Ultra-Luminous X-ray (ULX) sources, with intrinsic X-ray luminosities >1e39 ergs/s, are identified in 82 galaxies observed with Chandra's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer. Source positions, X-ray…
We report on the identification of a third, new ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in the starburst galaxy M82. Previously, the source was observed at fluxes consistent with the high state of Galactic black hole binaries (BHBs). We observe…
Ultra-Luminous X-ray sources are accreting black holes that might represent strong evidence of the Intermediate Mass Black Holes (IMBH), proposed to exist by theoretical studies but with no firm detection (as a class) so far. We analyze the…
The outburst cycles of black hole X-ray transients are now generally understood as caused by a thermal instability in the accretion disk, the same mechanism as in dwarf novae outbursts. During quiescence the accretion occurs via a cool disk…
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…
Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are high-mass X-ray binaries with an X-ray luminosity above $10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$. These ULXs can be powered by black holes that are more massive than $20M_\odot$, accreting in a standard regime, or…
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…
We report new detections of the two transient ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in NGC 5128 from an ongoing series of Chandra observations. Both sources have previously been observed Lx (2-3)E39 erg/s, at the lower end of the ULX…
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are X-ray binary systems containing an accreting neutron star (NS) or black hole emitting at luminosities above the Eddington limit of a $10M_{\odot}$ black hole. Approximately 1900 (either confirmed or…
We derive the luminosity-temperature relation for the super-critically accreting black holes (BHs) and compare it to the data on ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). At super-Eddington accretion rates, an outflow forms within the…
Context. X-ray binaries are usually divided in persistent and transient sources. For ultracompact X-ray binaries (UCXBs), the mass transfer rate is expected to be a strong function of orbital period, predicting persistent sources at short…
Recent observational and theoretical results have suggested that some of ultraluminous X-ray (ULX) sources may contain neutron star (NS) accretors. However, the formation channel and properties of donor stars of NS ULXs remain uncertain. By…
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…
Mass measurements from low-mass black hole X-ray binaries (LMXBs) and radio pulsars have been used to identify a gap between the most massive neutron stars (NSs) and the least massive black holes (BHs). BH mass measurements in LMXBs are…