Broad absorption features in wind-dominated ultraluminous X-ray sources?

Middleton, M.J.; Walton, D.J.; Roberts, T.P.; Heil, L.

doi:10.1093/mnrasl/slt157

Broad absorption features in wind-dominated ultraluminous X-ray sources?

Middleton, M.J.; Walton, D.J.; Roberts, T.P.; Heil, L.

Authors

M.J. Middleton

D.J. Walton

Professor Tim Roberts t.p.roberts@durham.ac.uk
Professor

L. Heil

Abstract

The luminosities of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) require an exotic solution with either supercritical accretion modes on to stellar-mass black holes or subcritical accretion on to intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) being invoked. Discriminating between the two is non-trivial due to the present lack of a direct mass measurement. A key expectation of the supercritical mode of accretion is the presence of powerful radiatively driven winds. Here we analyse XMM–Newton data from NGC 5408 X-1 and NGC 6946 X-1 and find that strong soft residuals present in the X-ray spectra can be reconciled with broadened, blueshifted absorption by a partially ionized, optically thin phase of this wind. We derive initial values for the physical parameters of the wind; we also discuss other possible origins for the observed features.

Citation

Middleton, M., Walton, D., Roberts, T., & Heil, L. (2014). Broad absorption features in wind-dominated ultraluminous X-ray sources?. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 438(1), L51-L55. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slt157

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Oct 30, 2013
Online Publication Date	Dec 12, 2013
Publication Date	Feb 11, 2014
Deposit Date	Jan 24, 2014
Publicly Available Date	Jan 29, 2014
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN	0035-8711
Electronic ISSN	1365-2966
Publisher	Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	438
Issue	1
Pages	L51-L55
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slt157
Keywords	Accretion discs, Black hole physics, X-rays, Binaries.

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This article has been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.