A variable ultraluminous X-ray source in a globular cluster in NGC 4649

Abstract

We report the discovery of a new ultraluminous X-ray source associated with a globular cluster in the elliptical galaxy NGC 4649. The X-ray source was initially detected with a luminosity below 5 × 1038 erg s -1, but in subsequent observations 7 and 11 years later it had brightened substantially to 2-3 × 1039 erg s-1. Over the course of six separate observations it displayed significant spectral variability, in both continuum slope and absorption column. Short-term variability in the X-ray flux was also present in at least one observation. The properties of this object appear consistent with a stellar-mass black hole accreting at super-Eddington rates (i.e., in the ultraluminous accretion state), although a highly super-Eddington neutron star cannot be excluded. The coincidence of an increase in absorption column with a possible enhancement in short-term variability in at least one observation is suggestive of a clumpy, radiatively driven wind crossing our line of sight to the object. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.