The origin of pulsating ultra-luminous X-ray sources: Low- and intermediate-mass X-ray binaries containing neutron star accretors

Abstract

Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are those X-ray sources located away from the centre of their host galaxy with luminosities exceeding the Eddington limit of a stellar-mass black hole ($L_X>10^{39}{\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$). The discovery of X-ray pulsations in some of these objects (e.g. M82~X-2) suggests that a certain fraction of the ULX population may have a neutron star accretor. We present systematic modelling of low- and intermediate-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs and IMXBs; donor-star mass range $0.92$--$8.0$~M${}_{\odot }$ and neutron-star accretors) to explain the formation of this sub-population of ULXs. Using MESA, we explored the allowed initial parameter space of binary systems consisting of a neutron star and a low- or intermediate-mass donor star that could explain the observed properties of ULXs. Our simulations take into account beaming effects, stellar rotation, general angular momentum losses, and a detailed and self-consistent calculation of the mass-transfer rate. We study the conditions that lead to dynamical stability of these systems, which depends strongly on the response of the donor star to mass loss. Using two values for the initial neutron star mass ($1.3$~M${}_{\odot }$ and $2.0$~M${}_{\odot }$), we present two sets of mass-transfer calculation grids. We find that LMXBs/IMXBs can produce NS-ULXs with typical time-averaged isotropic-equivalent X-ray luminosities of $10^{39}$--$10^{41}{\mathrm{erg}\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ on a timescale up to $\sim 1.0\mathrm{Myr}$ for the lower luminosities. We also estimate their likelihood of detection, the types of white-dwarf remnants left behind by the donors, and the total amount of mass accreted by the neutron stars. We also compare our results to the observed pulsating ULXs. Our results suggest that a large subset of the observed pulsating ULX population can be explained by LMXBs/IMXBs undergoing a super-Eddington mass-transfer phase.

arXiv comment19 pages, 13 figures, Accepted by A&A. Parameter space was increased to include low-mass XRBs and corresponding changes made to the text (including the title) and figures 4, 6-11. Changed axes for figures 1 and 2. Fixed typos and updated references. Added arguments about why spin period is not an accurate reflection of mass accretion rate in the introduction

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