Is SS 433 a misaligned ultraluminous X-ray source? Constraints from its reflected signal in the Galactic plane

Abstract

We evaluate the emission that must arise due to reflection of the putative collimated X-ray radiation of SS 433 by atomic gas and molecular clouds in the Galactic plane and compare the predicted signal with existing RXTE and ASCA data for the region of interest. Assuming that the intrinsic X-ray spectrum of SS 433 is similar to that of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs), we obtain an upper limit of $\sim 2\times 10^{39}$ erg s${}^{-1}$ on its total (angular-integrated) luminosity in the 2--10 keV energy band, which is only weakly dependent on the half-opening angle, ${\Theta }_r$, of the emission cone. In contrast, the upper limit on the apparent luminosity of SS 433 (that would be perceived by an observer looking at its supercritical accretion disk face-on) decreases with increasing ${\Theta }_r$ and is $\sim 3\times 10^{40}$ erg s${}^{-1}$ for ${\Theta }_r\gtrsim {\Theta }_p=21°$, where ${\Theta }_p$ is the precession angle of the baryonic jets (assuming that the emission cones precess in the same manner as the jets). This leaves open the possibility that SS 433 is a misaligned ULX. Further investigation of the reflection signal from the molecular clouds using higher angular resolution observations could improve these constraints with the potential to break the degeneracy between ${\Theta }_r$ and the apparent luminosity.

12 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (13)

• Theory of Star Formation
• The Boston University-Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory Galactic Ring Survey
• Super-critically accreting stellar-mass black holes as ultraluminous X-ray sources
• The Nature of SS433 and the Ultraluminous X-ray Sources
• Kinematic Distances to Molecular Clouds identified in the Galactic Ring Survey
• Discrete sources as the origin of the Galactic X-ray ridge emission
• Supercritical Accretion Discs in Ultraluminous X-ray Sources and SS 433
• Optically thick outflows in ultraluminous supersoft sources
• Cumulative hard X-ray spectrum of local AGN: a link to the cosmic X-ray background
• Map of the Galaxy in the 6.7 keV emission line
• Relativistic baryonic jets from an ultraluminous supersoft X-ray source
• Coupled radio and X-ray emission and evidence for discrete ejecta in the jets of SS 433
• Thermal X-ray emission from a baryonic jet: a self-consistent multicolour spectral model

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Stability of mass transfer from massive giants: double black-hole binary formation and ultra-luminous X-ray sources
• Spectral Changes in the Hyperluminous Pulsar in NGC 5907 as a Function of Super-Orbital Phase
• NuSTAR reveals the hidden nature of SS433
• Polarization and long-term variability of Sgr A* X-ray echo
• Bright end of the luminosity function of high-mass X-ray binaries: contributions of hard, soft and supersoft sources
• Outbursts of the intermediate-mass black hole HLX-1: a wind instability scenario
• The intrinsic collective X-ray spectrum of luminous high-mass X-ray binaries
• An upper limit on nickel overabundance in the supercritical accretion disk wind of SS 433 from X-ray spectroscopy
• Diagnostics of Parameters for the X-ray Jets of SS 433 from High-Resolution Chandra Spectroscopy
• Impact of ultraluminous X-ray sources on photoabsorption in the first galaxies
• X-ray panorama of the SS433/W50 complex by SRG/eROSITA
• On the application of Jacobian-free Riemann solvers for relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamics under M1 closure
• Long-Term X-Ray/UV Variability in ULXs
• Constraints on the collimated X-ray emission of SS 433 from the reflection on molecular clouds
• SS 433: O I lines and the circumbinary disk