A Variable Black Hole X-Ray Source in an NGC 1399 Globular Cluster

Shih, I. C.; Kundu, Arunav; Maccarone, Thomas J.; Zepf, Stephen E.; Joseph, T.

doi:10.1088/0004-637x/721/1/323

Cited by 52 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Such a change in absorption has also been reported from an extragalactic BH source, XMMU 122939.7+07533 (Maccarone et al 2007). This was at first attributed to a warping of the accretion disk (Shih et al 2010), but the presence of strong, broad O iii lines (Zepf et al 2008) suggests that a strong disk wind varies the amount of absorbing material along the line of sight.…”

Section: Spectral Fittingsupporting

confidence: 63%

A Transient Sub-Eddington Black Hole X-Ray Binary Candidate in the Dust Lanes of Centaurus A

Burke

Raychaudhury

Kraft

et al. 2012

ApJ

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We report the discovery of a bright X-ray transient CXOU J132527.6−430023 in the nearby early-type galaxy NGC 5128. The source was first detected over the course of five Chandra observations in 2007, reaching an unabsorbed outburst luminosity of (1-2) × 10 38 erg s −1 in the 0.5-7.0 keV band before returning to quiescence. Such luminosities are possible for both stellar-mass black hole and neutron star (NS) X-ray binary transients. Here, we attempt to characterize the nature of the compact object. No counterpart has been detected in the optical or radio sky, but the proximity of the source to the dust lanes allows for the possibility of an obscured companion. The brightness of the source after a >100-fold increase in X-ray flux makes it either the first confirmed transient non-ultraluminous X-ray black hole system in outburst to be subject to detailed spectral modeling outside the Local Group, or a bright (>10 38 erg s −1 ) transient NS X-ray binary, which are very rare. Such a large increase in flux would appear to lend weight to the view that this is a black hole transient. X-ray spectral fitting of an absorbed power law yielded unphysical photon indices, while the parameters of the best-fit absorbed disk blackbody model are typical of an accreting ∼10 M black hole in the thermally dominant state.

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Section: Spectral Fittingsupporting

confidence: 63%

A Transient Sub-Eddington Black Hole X-Ray Binary Candidate in the Dust Lanes of Centaurus A

Burke

Raychaudhury

Kraft

et al. 2012

ApJ

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“…Observationally, the existence of accreting BHs in GCs has been supported by the detection of five luminous (above the NS Eddington limit), variable sources Brassington et al 2010;Shih et al 2010;Irwin et al 2010;Maccarone et al 2011). Using the TC/PTC criteria defined in this paper, four of these binary systems are persistent and could be ultracompact binaries with either a BH (Gnedin et al 2009) or NS with super-Eddington accretion and rather mild beaming (King 2011).…”

Section: Gc-lmxbsmentioning

confidence: 83%

The Spectral and Temporal Properties of Transient Sources in Early-Type Galaxies

Brassington¹,

Fabbiano²,

Zezas³

et al. 2012

ApJ

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We report the spectral and temporal variability properties of 18 candidate transient (TC) and potential transient (PTC) sources detected in deep multi-epoch Chandra observation of the nearby elliptical galaxies, NGC 3379, NGC 4278, and NGC 4697. Only one source can be identified with a background counterpart, leaving 17 TCs + PTCs in the galaxies. Of these, 14 are in the galaxy field, supporting the theoretical picture that the majority of field X-ray binaries (XRBs) will exhibit transient accretion for >75% of their lifetime. Three sources are coincident with globular clusters, including two high-luminosity candidate black hole (BH) XRBs, with L X = 5.4 × 10 38 erg s −1 and L X = 2.8 × 10 39 erg s −1 , respectively. The spectra, luminosities, and temporal behavior of these 17 sources suggest that the transient population is heterogeneous, including neutron star (NS) and BH XRBs in both normal and high-rate accretion modes, and super soft sources containing white dwarf binaries. Our TC and PTC detections are noticeably fewer than the number expected from the population synthesis (PS) models of Fragos et al., tailored to our new Chandra pointings of NGC 4278. We attribute this discrepancy to the PS assumption that the transient population is composed of NS XRBs, as well as differences between the statistical analysis and error estimates used in the model and our observations.

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“…There are 2 in NGC 1399 [432, 243, 313], and Paolillo et al [364] estimate that 65% of globular clusters in NGC 1399 host LMXBs. Brassington et al [60] have found 3 LMXBs in globular clusters associated with NGC 3379, of which 1 is a presumed black hole.…”

Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relativistic Binaries in Globular Clusters

Benacquista¹,

Downing

2013

Living Rev. Relativ.

198

129

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Galactic globular clusters are old, dense star systems typically containing 104–106 stars. As an old population of stars, globular clusters contain many collapsed and degenerate objects. As a dense population of stars, globular clusters are the scene of many interesting close dynamical interactions between stars. These dynamical interactions can alter the evolution of individual stars and can produce tight binary systems containing one or two compact objects. In this review, we discuss theoretical models of globular cluster evolution and binary evolution, techniques for simulating this evolution that leads to relativistic binaries, and current and possible future observational evidence for this population. Our discussion of globular cluster evolution will focus on the processes that boost the production of tight binary systems and the subsequent interaction of these binaries that can alter the properties of both bodies and can lead to exotic objects. Direct N-body integrations and Fokker-Planck simulations of the evolution of globular clusters that incorporate tidal interactions and lead to predictions of relativistic binary populations are also discussed. We discuss the current observational evidence for cataclysmic variables, millisecond pulsars, and low-mass X-ray binaries as well as possible future detection of relativistic binaries with gravitational radiation.

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A Variable Black Hole X-Ray Source in an NGC 1399 Globular Cluster

Cited by 52 publications

References 31 publications

A Transient Sub-Eddington Black Hole X-Ray Binary Candidate in the Dust Lanes of Centaurus A

A Transient Sub-Eddington Black Hole X-Ray Binary Candidate in the Dust Lanes of Centaurus A

The Spectral and Temporal Properties of Transient Sources in Early-Type Galaxies

Relativistic Binaries in Globular Clusters

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