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    From ultraluminous X-ray sources to ultraluminous supersoft sources: NGC 55 ULX, the missing link

    253582.pdf (4.213Mb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Pinto, C.
    Alston, W.
    Soria, Roberto
    Middleton, M.
    Walton, D.
    Sutton, A.
    Fabian, A.
    Earnshaw, H.
    Urquhart, Ryan
    Kara, E.
    Roberts, T.
    Date
    2017
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Pinto, C. and Alston, W. and Soria, R. and Middleton, M. and Walton, D. and Sutton, A. and Fabian, A. et al. 2017. From ultraluminous X-ray sources to ultraluminous supersoft sources: NGC 55 ULX, the missing link. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 468 (3): pp. 2865-2883.
    Source Title
    Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
    DOI
    10.1093/mnras/stx641
    ISSN
    0035-8711
    School
    Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy (Physics)
    Remarks

    This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2017 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/54289
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    In recent work with high-resolution reflection grating spectrometers (RGS) aboard XMM–Newton, Pinto et al. have discovered that two bright and archetypal ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) have strong relativistic winds in agreement with theoretical predictions of high accretion rates. It has been proposed that such winds can become optically thick enough to block and reprocess the disc X-ray photons almost entirely, making the source appear as a soft thermal emitter or ultraluminous supersoft X-ray source (ULS). To test this hypothesis, we have studied a ULX where the wind is strong enough to cause significant absorption of the hard X-ray continuum: NGC 55 ULX. The RGS spectrum of NGC 55 ULX shows a wealth of emission and absorption lines blueshifted by significant fractions of the light speed (0.01–0.20)c indicating the presence of a powerful wind. The wind has a complex dynamical structure with the ionization state increasing with the outflow velocity, which may indicate launching from different regions of the accretion disc. The comparison with other ULXs such as NGC 1313 X-1 and NGC 5408 X-1 suggests that NGC 55 ULX is being observed at higher inclination. The wind partly absorbs the source flux above 1 keV, generating a spectral drop similar to that observed in ULSs. The softening of the spectrum at lower (∼ Eddington) luminosities and the detection of a soft lag agree with the scenario of wind clumps crossing the line of sight, partly absorbing and reprocessing the hard X-rays from the innermost region.

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