LMC X-1: A New Spectral Analysis of the O-star in the binary and surrounding nebula

Abstract

We provide new observations of the LMC X-1 O star and its extended nebula structure using spectroscopic data from VLT/UVES as well as H$\alpha$ imaging from the Wide Field Imager on the Max Planck Gesellschaft / European Southern Observatory 2.2m telescope and ATCA imaging of the 2.1 GHz radio continuum. This nebula is one of the few known to be energized by an X-ray binary. We use a new spectrum extraction technique that is superior to other methods to obtain both radial velocities and fluxes. This provides an updated spatial velocity of $\simeq 21.0\pm 4.8$ km s${}^{-1}$ for the O star. The slit encompasses both the photo-ionized and shock-ionized regions of the nebula. The imaging shows a clear arc-like structure reminiscent of a wind bow shock in between the ionization cone and shock-ionized nebula. The observed structure can be fit well by the parabolic shape of a wind bow shock. If an interpretation of a wind bow shock system is valid, we investigate the N159-O1 star cluster as a potential parent of the system, suggesting a progenitor mass of $\sim 60$ M${}_{\odot }$ for the black hole. We further note that the radio emission could be non-thermal emission from the wind bow shock, or synchrotron emission associated with the jet inflated nebula. For both wind and jet-powered origins, this would represent one of the first radio detections of such a structure.

7 Figures, 4 Tables

References in corpus (6)

• The jet-powered optical nebula of Cygnus X-1
• Opening angles, Lorentz factors and confinement of X-ray binary jets
• The large-scale jet-powered radio nebula of Circinus X-1
• Shell-Shocked: The Interstellar Medium Near Cygnus X-1
• Ionization Cone in the X-ray Binary LMC X-1
• Spectacular Trailing Streamers near LMC X-1: The First Evidence of a Jet?

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• MeerKAT discovers a jet-driven bow shock near GRS 1915+105. How an invisible large-scale jet sculpts a microquasar's environment
• Simulations of neutrino and gamma-ray production from relativistic black-hole microquasar jets
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• Black holes at cosmic dawn in the redshifted 21cm signal of HI
• Relativistic Magnetized Astrophysical Plasma Outflows in Black-Hole Microquasars