Bibcode
Gutiérrez, C. M.; Moon, Dae-Sik
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 797, Issue 1, article id. L7, 5 pp. (2014).
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12
2014
Citations
10
Refereed citations
10
Description
We present the identification and characterization of the optical
counterpart to 2XMM J011942.7+032421, one of the most luminous and
distant ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs). The counterpart is located
near a star-forming region in a spiral arm of the galaxy NGC 470 with u,
g, and r magnitudes of 21.53, 21.69, and 21.71 mag, respectively. The
luminosity of the counterpart is much larger than that of a single
O-type star, indicating that it may be a stellar cluster. Our optical
spectroscopic observations confirm the association of the X-ray source
and the optical counterpart with its host galaxy NGC 470, which
validates the high, gsim1041 erg s-1, X-ray
luminosity of the source. Its optical spectrum is embedded with numerous
emission lines, including H recombination lines, metallic forbidden
lines, and more notably the high-ionization He II (λ4686) line.
That line shows a large velocity dispersion of sime410 km
s-1, consistent with the existence of a compact (<5 AU)
highly ionized accretion disk rotating around the central X-ray source.
The ~1.4 × 1037 erg s-1 luminosity of the He
II line emission makes the source one of the most luminous ULXs in that
emission. This, together with the high X-ray luminosity and the large
velocity dispersion of the He II emission, suggests that the source is
an ideal candidate for more extensive follow-up observations for
understanding the nature of hyper-luminous X-ray sources, a more
luminous subgroup of ULXs, and more likely candidates for
intermediate-mass black holes.
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