Does the 62-day X-ray periodicity come from ULX M82 X-1?
Creators
- 1. Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20A Datun Road, Chaoyang Distict, Beijing 100012 (China)
- 2. Key Laboratory of Space Astronomy and Technology, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China)
Description
M82 X-1 is the brightest ultraluminous X-ray source in starburst galaxy M82 and is one of the best intermediate mass black hole candidates. Previous studies based on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer/Proportional Counter Array (RXTE/PCA) reported a regular X-ray flux modulation of M82 with a period of 62 days, and attributed this periodic modulation to M82 X-1. However, this modulation is not necessarily from M82 X-1 because RXTE/PCA has a very poor spatial resolution of . In this work, we analyzed 1000 days of monitoring data of M82 X-1 from the Swift/X-ray telescope (XRT), which has a much better spatial resolution than RXTE/PCA. The periodicity distribution map of M82 reveals that the 62-day periodicity is most likely not from M82 X-1, but from the summed contributions of several periodic X-ray sources 4″ southeast of M82 X-1. However, Swift/XRT is not able to resolve those periodic sources and locate the precise origin of the periodicity of M82. Thus, more long-term observations with higher spatial resolution are required.
Availability note (English)
Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/809/2/L28Additional details
Identifiers
Publishing Information
- Journal Title
- Astrophysical Journal Letters
- Journal Volume
- 809
- Journal Issue
- 2
- Journal Page Range
- [5 p.]
- ISSN
- 2041-8205
INIS
- Country of Publication
- United Kingdom
- Country of Input or Organization
- International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- INIS RN
- 51039875
- Subject category
- S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
- Descriptors DEI
- BLACK HOLES; COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES; DISTRIBUTION; GALAXIES; MASS; PERIODICITY; PROPORTIONAL COUNTERS; SPATIAL RESOLUTION; TELESCOPES
- Descriptors DEC
- COSMIC RAY SOURCES; MEASURING INSTRUMENTS; RADIATION DETECTORS; RESOLUTION; VARIATIONS