Published August 20, 2015 | Version v1
Journal article

Does the 62-day X-ray periodicity come from ULX M82 X-1?

  • 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 1 . 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/L28

Additional 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