An ultraluminous X-ray source powered by an accreting neutron star
The majority of ultraluminous X-ray sources are point sources that are spatially offset from the nuclei of nearby galaxies and whose X-ray luminosities exceed the theoretical maximum for spherical infall (the Eddington limit) onto stellar-mass black holes. Their X-ray luminosities in the 0.5–10 kilo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Nature Publishing Group
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98042 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8804-8946 |
| _version_ | 1826213203362709504 |
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| author | Bachetti, M. Harrison, Fiona A. Walton, D. J. Grefenstette, Brian W. Fürst, F. Barret, D. Beloborodov, A. Boggs, S. E. Christensen, F. E. Craig, W. W. Fabian, A. C. Hailey, Charles J. Hornschemeier, A. Kaspi, Victoria Kulkarni, S. R. Maccarone, T. J. Miller, J. M. Rana, V. Stern, D. Tendulkar, S. P. Tomsick, J. Webb, N. A. Zhang, W. W. Chakrabarty, Deepto |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Bachetti, M. Harrison, Fiona A. Walton, D. J. Grefenstette, Brian W. Fürst, F. Barret, D. Beloborodov, A. Boggs, S. E. Christensen, F. E. Craig, W. W. Fabian, A. C. Hailey, Charles J. Hornschemeier, A. Kaspi, Victoria Kulkarni, S. R. Maccarone, T. J. Miller, J. M. Rana, V. Stern, D. Tendulkar, S. P. Tomsick, J. Webb, N. A. Zhang, W. W. Chakrabarty, Deepto |
| author_sort | Bachetti, M. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The majority of ultraluminous X-ray sources are point sources that are spatially offset from the nuclei of nearby galaxies and whose X-ray luminosities exceed the theoretical maximum for spherical infall (the Eddington limit) onto stellar-mass black holes. Their X-ray luminosities in the 0.5–10 kiloelectronvolt energy band range from 10[superscript 39] to 10[superscript 41] ergs per second. Because higher masses imply less extreme ratios of the luminosity to the isotropic Eddington limit, theoretical models have focused on black hole rather than neutron star systems. The most challenging sources to explain are those at the luminous end of the range (more than 10[superscript 40] ergs per second), which require black hole masses of 50–100 times the solar value or significant departures from the standard thin disk accretion that powers bright Galactic X-ray binaries, or both. Here we report broadband X-ray observations of the nuclear region of the galaxy M82 that reveal pulsations with an average period of 1.37 seconds and a 2.5-day sinusoidal modulation. The pulsations result from the rotation of a magnetized neutron star, and the modulation arises from its binary orbit. The pulsed flux alone corresponds to an X-ray luminosity in the 3–30 kiloelectronvolt range of 4.9 × 10[superscript 39] ergs per second. The pulsating source is spatially coincident with a variable source that can reach an X-ray luminosity in the 0.3–10 kiloelectronvolt range of 1.8 × 10[superscript 40] ergs per second. This association implies a luminosity of about 100 times the Eddington limit for a 1.4-solar-mass object, or more than ten times brighter than any known accreting pulsar. This implies that neutron stars may not be rare in the ultraluminous X-ray population, and it challenges physical models for the accretion of matter onto magnetized compact objects. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:45:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/98042 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:45:24Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/980422022-09-29T15:56:06Z An ultraluminous X-ray source powered by an accreting neutron star Bachetti, M. Harrison, Fiona A. Walton, D. J. Grefenstette, Brian W. Fürst, F. Barret, D. Beloborodov, A. Boggs, S. E. Christensen, F. E. Craig, W. W. Fabian, A. C. Hailey, Charles J. Hornschemeier, A. Kaspi, Victoria Kulkarni, S. R. Maccarone, T. J. Miller, J. M. Rana, V. Stern, D. Tendulkar, S. P. Tomsick, J. Webb, N. A. Zhang, W. W. Chakrabarty, Deepto Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Chakrabarty, Deepto The majority of ultraluminous X-ray sources are point sources that are spatially offset from the nuclei of nearby galaxies and whose X-ray luminosities exceed the theoretical maximum for spherical infall (the Eddington limit) onto stellar-mass black holes. Their X-ray luminosities in the 0.5–10 kiloelectronvolt energy band range from 10[superscript 39] to 10[superscript 41] ergs per second. Because higher masses imply less extreme ratios of the luminosity to the isotropic Eddington limit, theoretical models have focused on black hole rather than neutron star systems. The most challenging sources to explain are those at the luminous end of the range (more than 10[superscript 40] ergs per second), which require black hole masses of 50–100 times the solar value or significant departures from the standard thin disk accretion that powers bright Galactic X-ray binaries, or both. Here we report broadband X-ray observations of the nuclear region of the galaxy M82 that reveal pulsations with an average period of 1.37 seconds and a 2.5-day sinusoidal modulation. The pulsations result from the rotation of a magnetized neutron star, and the modulation arises from its binary orbit. The pulsed flux alone corresponds to an X-ray luminosity in the 3–30 kiloelectronvolt range of 4.9 × 10[superscript 39] ergs per second. The pulsating source is spatially coincident with a variable source that can reach an X-ray luminosity in the 0.3–10 kiloelectronvolt range of 1.8 × 10[superscript 40] ergs per second. This association implies a luminosity of about 100 times the Eddington limit for a 1.4-solar-mass object, or more than ten times brighter than any known accreting pulsar. This implies that neutron stars may not be rare in the ultraluminous X-ray population, and it challenges physical models for the accretion of matter onto magnetized compact objects. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Contract NNG08FD60C) 2015-08-06T12:12:00Z 2015-08-06T12:12:00Z 2014-10 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0028-0836 1476-4687 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98042 Bachetti, M., F. A. Harrison, D. J. Walton, B. W. Grefenstette, D. Chakrabarty, F. Fürst, D. Barret, et al. “An Ultraluminous X-Ray Source Powered by an Accreting Neutron Star.” Nature 514, no. 7521 (October 8, 2014): 202–204. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8804-8946 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature13791 Nature Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf Nature Publishing Group arXiv |
| spellingShingle | Bachetti, M. Harrison, Fiona A. Walton, D. J. Grefenstette, Brian W. Fürst, F. Barret, D. Beloborodov, A. Boggs, S. E. Christensen, F. E. Craig, W. W. Fabian, A. C. Hailey, Charles J. Hornschemeier, A. Kaspi, Victoria Kulkarni, S. R. Maccarone, T. J. Miller, J. M. Rana, V. Stern, D. Tendulkar, S. P. Tomsick, J. Webb, N. A. Zhang, W. W. Chakrabarty, Deepto An ultraluminous X-ray source powered by an accreting neutron star |
| title | An ultraluminous X-ray source powered by an accreting neutron star |
| title_full | An ultraluminous X-ray source powered by an accreting neutron star |
| title_fullStr | An ultraluminous X-ray source powered by an accreting neutron star |
| title_full_unstemmed | An ultraluminous X-ray source powered by an accreting neutron star |
| title_short | An ultraluminous X-ray source powered by an accreting neutron star |
| title_sort | ultraluminous x ray source powered by an accreting neutron star |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98042 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8804-8946 |
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