Unlocking the nature of ultraluminous X-ray sources using their X-ray spectra

✍ Scribed by J.C. Gladstone; T.P. Roberts; C. Done

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 167 KB
• Volume: 332
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-6337
• DOI: 10.1002/asna.201011496

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

We explore the nature of ultraluminous X‐ray sources through detailed investigations of their spectral shape using some of the highest quality data available in the XMM‐Newton public archives. Phenomenological models allow us to characterise their spectra, while more ‘physically‐motivated’ models enable us to explore the physical processes underlying these characteristics. These physical models imply the presence of extreme (probably super‐Eddington) accretion on to stellar mass black holes (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)