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    The Nature of the Bright ULX X-2 in NGC 3921: A Chandra Position and HST Candidate Counterpart

    Access Status
    Open access via publisher
    Authors
    Jonker, P.
    Heida, M.
    Torres, M.
    Miller-Jones, James
    Fabian, A.
    Ratti, E.
    Miniutti, G.
    Walton, D.
    Roberts, T.
    Date
    2012
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Jonker, P. and Heida, M. and Torres, M. and Miller-Jones, J. and Fabian, A. and Ratti, E. and Miniutti, G. et al. 2012. The Nature of the Bright ULX X-2 in NGC 3921: A Chandra Position and HST Candidate Counterpart. The Astrophysical Journal. 758 (1): pp. 28:1-28:8.
    Source Title
    The Astrophysical Journal
    DOI
    10.1088/0004-637X/758/1/28
    ISSN
    0004637X
    School
    Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy (Physics)
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24786
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    We report on Chandra observations of the bright ultraluminous X-ray (ULX) source in NGC 3921. Previous XMM-Newton observations reported in the literature show the presence of a bright ULX at a 0.5-10 keV luminosity of 2 × 10^40 erg/s. Our Chandra observation finds the source at a lower luminosity of ˜8 × 10^39 erg/s furthermore, we provide a Chandra position of the ULX accurate to 0.7" at 90% confidence. The X-ray variability makes it unlikely that the high luminosity is caused by several separate X-ray sources. In three epochs of archival Hubble Space Telescope observations, we find a candidate counterpart to the ULX. There is direct evidence for variability between the two epochs of WFPC2 F814W observations with the observation obtained in 2000 showing a brighter source. Furthermore, converting the 1994 F336W and 2000 F300W WFPC2 and the 2010 F336W WFC3 observations to the Johnson U-band filter assuming a spectral type of O7I, we find evidence for a brightening of the U-band light in 2000. Using the higher resolution WFC3 observations, we resolve the candidate counterpart into two sources of similar color. We discuss the nature of the ULX and the probable association with the optical counterpart(s). Finally, we investigate a potential new explanation for some (bright) ULXs as the decaying stages of flares caused by the tidal disruption of a star by a recoiled supermassive black hole. However, we find that there should be at most only one of such systems within z = 0.08.

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