A Comparison of Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Candidate Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources and Stellar-Mass Black Holes

  • Miller J
  • Fabian A
  • Miller M
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Abstract

Cool thermal emission components have recently been revealed in the X-ray spectra of a small number of ultra-luminous X-ray (ULX) sources with L_X > 1 E+40 erg/s in nearby galaxies. These components can be well fitted with accretion disk models, with temperatures approximately 5-10 times lower than disk temperatures measured in stellar-mass Galactic black holes when observed in their brightest states. Because disk temperature is expected to fall with increasing black hole mass, and because the X-ray luminosity of these sources exceeds the Eddington limit for 10 Msun black holes (L_Edd = 1.3 E+39 erg/s), these sources are extremely promising intermediate-mass black hole candidates (IMBHCs). In this Letter, we directly compare the inferred disk temperatures and luminosities of these ULXs, with the disk temperatures and luminosities of a number of Galactic black holes. The sample of stellar-mass black holes was selected to include different orbital periods, companion types, inclinations, and column densities. These ULXs and stellar-mass black holes occupy distinct regions of a L_X -- kT diagram, suggesting these ULXs may harbor IMBHs. We briefly discuss the important strengths and weaknesses of this interpretation.

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Miller, J. M., Fabian, A. C., & Miller, M. C. (2004). A Comparison of Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Candidate Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources and Stellar-Mass Black Holes. The Astrophysical Journal, 614(2), L117–L120. https://doi.org/10.1086/425316

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