Winds in ultraluminous X-ray sources: New challenges

Abstract

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are extreme X-ray binaries shining above 1039 erg/s, in most cases as a consequence of super-Eddington accretion onto neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes accreting above their Eddington limit. This was understood after the discovery of coherent pulsations, cyclotron lines, and powerful winds. The latter was possible thanks to the high-resolution X-ray spectrometers aboard XMM-Newton. ULX winds carry a huge amount of power owing to their relativistic speeds (0.1–0.3c) and are able to significantly affect the surrounding medium, likely producing the observed 100 pc ULX superbubbles, and limit the amount of matter that can reach the central accretor. The study of ULX winds is therefore quintessential to understand (1) how much and how fast can matter be accreted by compact objects and (2) how strong is their feedback on the surrounding medium. This is also relevant to understand supermassive black holes growth. Here we provide an overview on this phenomenology, highlight some recent, exciting results and show how future missions such as XRISM, eXTP, and ATHENA will improve our understanding.