Unlocking the nature of ultraluminous X-ray sources using their X-ray spectra

Abstract

We explore the nature of ultraluminous X-ray sources through detailed investigations of their spectral shape using some of the highest quality data available in the XMM-Newton public archives. Phenomenological models allow us to characterise their spectra, while more 'physically-motivated' models enable us to explore the physical processes underlying these characteristics. These physical models imply the presence of extreme (probably super-Eddington) accretion on to stellar mass black holes.

Accepted for publication in Astronomische Nachrichten, to appear in the proceedings of the conference "Ultraluminous X-ray sources and Middle Weight Black Holes" (Madrid, May 24-26, 2010)

References in corpus (9)

• Modelling the behaviour of accretion flows in X-ray binaries
• Super-critically accreting stellar-mass black holes as ultraluminous X-ray sources
• Constraining Black Hole Spin Via X-ray Spectroscopy
• Relativistic X-ray Lines from the Inner Accretion Disks Around Black Holes
• XMM-Newton observations of the brightest Ultraluminous X-ray sources
• The Nature of SS433 and the Ultraluminous X-ray Sources
• Relativistic slim disks with vertical structure
• Angular Momentum Transport in Accretion Disks and its Implications for Spin Estimates in Black Hole Binaries
• Detailed Atmosphere Model Fits to Disk-Dominated ULX Spectra

Cited by in corpus (4)

• A Hard X-Ray Study of Ultraluminous X-ray Source NGC 5204 X-1 with NuSTAR and XMM-Newton
• Escape, capture, and levitation of matter in Eddington outbursts
• Transition of an X-ray binary to the hard ultraluminous state in the blue compact dwarf galaxy VII Zw 403
• A Long-term Study of Ultraluminous X-ray Sources in NGC 891