Spitzer Irac Observations of Ir Excess in Holmberg Ix X-1: A Circumbinary Disk or a Variable Jet?

Dudik, R. P.; Berghea, Ciprian T.; Roberts, T. P.; Grisé, Fabien; Singh, Amit Kumar; Pagano, R.; Winter, L. M.

doi:10.3847/0004-637x/831/1/88

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Observational evidence for mid-infrared emission from a dusty CB disk illuminated by the compact X-ray source has been found in several X-ray binaries, such as the Galactic BH candidates GRS 1915+105 (Rahoui et al 2010), A0620−00 and XTE J1118+480 (Muno & Mauerhan 2006). Among ULXs, a CB disk was proposed for Holmberg IX X-1 (Dudik et al 2016) and Holmberg II X-1 (Lau et al 2017). A CB disk fed by outflows through the L2 point is also likely to be present in SS 433, based on optical spectroscopic studies of its stationary Hα, Brγ, Paschen, and He I emission lines (Blundell et al 2008;Perez & Blundell 2009, 2010Bowler 2013).…”

Section: Implications For the System Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outbursts of the intermediate-mass black hole HLX-1: a wind-instability scenario

Soria

Musaeva

et al. 2017

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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We model the intermediate-mass black hole HLX-1, using the Hubble Space Telescope, XMM-Newton and Swift. We quantify the relative contributions of a bluer component, function of X-ray irradiation, and a redder component, constant and likely coming from an old stellar population. We estimate a black hole mass ≈ (2 +2 −1 ) × 10 4 M ⊙ , a spin parameter a/M ≈ 0.9 for moderately face-on view, and a peak outburst luminosity ≈ 0.3 times the Eddington luminosity. We discuss the discrepancy between the characteristic sizes inferred from the short X-ray timescale (R ∼ a few 10 11 cm) and from the optical emitter (R √ cos θ ≈ 2.2 × 10 13 cm). One possibility is that the optical emitter is a circumbinary disk; however, we disfavour this scenario because it would require a very small donor star. A more plausible scenario is that the disk is large but only the inner annuli are involved in the X-ray outburst. We propose that the recurrent outbursts are caused by an accretion-rate oscillation driven by wind instability in the inner disk. We argue that the system has a long-term-average accretion rate of a few percent Eddington, just below the upper limit of the low/hard state; a wind-driven oscillation can trigger transitions to the high/soft state, with a recurrence period ∼1 year (much longer than the binary period, which we estimate as ∼10 days). The oscillation that dominated the system in the last decade is now damped such that the accretion rate no longer reaches the level required to trigger a transition. Finally, we highlight similarities between disk winds in HLX-1 and in the Galactic black hole V404 Cyg.

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Section: Implications For the System Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outbursts of the intermediate-mass black hole HLX-1: a wind-instability scenario

Soria

Musaeva

et al. 2017

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…1-σ flux uncertainties are provided in the parentheses. (Berghea et al 2010a;Dudik et al 2016). Possible origins include heated dust shells like those detected around red supergiants, circumbinary dust disks, jets, and/or free-free emission from accretion disk winds.…”

Section: Nature Of the Mid-ir Emissionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only a few observational studies of the mid-IR emission from ULXs exist (Berghea et al 2010a(Berghea et al , 2010bDudik et al 2016). Berghea et al (2010aBerghea et al ( , 2010b present mid-IR photometry of the well-studied Holmberg II X-1 (hereafter referred to as X-1; Pakull & Mirioni 2002;Lehmann et al 2005;Tao et al 2012;Walton et al 2015) and analyze its full radio to X-ray spectral energy distribution (SED).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First Detection of Mid-infrared Variability from an Ultraluminous X-Ray Source Holmberg II X-1

Lau

Heida

Kasliwal

et al. 2017

ApJL

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We present mid-infrared (IR) light curves of the Ultraluminous X-ray Source (ULX) Holmberg II X-1 from observations taken between 2014 January 13 and 2017 January 5 with the Spitzer Space Telescope at 3.6 and 4.5 μm in the Spitzer Infrared Intensive Transients Survey. The mid-IR light curves, which reveal the first detection of mid-IR variability from a ULX, is determined to arise primarily from dust emission rather than from a jet or an accretion disk outflow. We derived the evolution of the dust temperature (~-T 600 800, and equilibrium temperature radius (~-R 10 20 au eq ). A comparison of X-1 with a sample of spectroscopically identified massive stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud on a mid-IR color-magnitude diagram suggests that the mass donor in X-1 is a supergiant (sg) B[e]-star. The sgB[e]-interpretation is consistent with the derived dust properties and the presence of the [Fe II] (l m = 1.644 m) emission line revealed from previous near-IR studies of X-1. We attribute the mid-IR variability of X-1 to the increased heating of dust located in a circumbinary torus. It is unclear what physical processes are responsible for the increased dust heating; however, it does not appear to be associated with the X-ray flux from the ULX, given the constant X-ray luminosities provided by serendipitous, near-contemporaneous X-ray observations around the first mid-IR variability event in 2014. Our results highlight the importance of mid-IR observations of luminous X-ray sources traditionally studied at X-ray and radio wavelengths.

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“…Heil et al 2009). For example, Dudik et al (2016) combined multi-wavelength IR to Xray observations of the ULX Holmberg IX X-1 taken over 5 years and concluded that the origin of its mid-IR emission is either circumstellar dust or a variable jet. The uncertain origin of the mid-IR emission from Ho IX X-1, which exhibits X-ray variations by factors of 3-4 on day to year timescales (Vierdayanti et al 2010;Walton et al 2017), was attributed to difficulties in generating a good fit to the multi-wavelength, multi-epoch observations.…”

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confidence: 99%

Uncovering Red and Dusty Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources with Spitzer

Lau

Heida

Walton

et al. 2019

ApJ

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We present a mid-infrared (IR) sample study of nearby ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) using multi-epoch observations with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Spitzer /IRAC observations taken after 2014 were obtained as part of the Spitzer Infrared Intensive Transients Survey (SPIRITS). Our sample includes 96 ULXs located within 10 Mpc. Of the 96 ULXs, 12 have candidate counterparts consistent with absolute mid-IR magnitudes of supergiants, and 16 counterparts exceeded the mid-IR brightness of single supergiants and are thus more consistent with star clusters or non-ULX background active galactic nuclei (AGN). The supergiant candidate counterparts exhibit a bi-modal color distribution in a Spitzer/IRAC color-magnitude diagram, where "red' and "blue" ULXs fall in IRAC colors [3.6] − [4.5] ∼ 0.7 and [3.6] − [4.5] ∼ 0.0, respectively. The mid-IR colors and absolute magnitudes of 4 "red" and 5 "blue" ULXs are consistent with that of supergiant B[e] (sgB[e]) and red supergiant (RSG) stars, respectively. While "blue", RSG-like mid-IR ULX counterparts likely host RSG mass donors, we propose the "red" counterparts are ULXs exhibiting the "B[e] phenomenon" rather than hosts of sgB[e] mass donors. We show that the mid-IR excess from the "red" ULXs is likely due to thermal emission from circumstellar or circumbinary dust. Using dust as a probe for total mass, we estimate mass-loss rates ofṀ ∼ 1 × 10 −4 M yr −1 in dust-forming outflows of red ULXs. Based on the transient mid-IR behavior and its relatively flat spectral index, α = −0.19±0.1, we suggest that the mid-IR emission from Holmberg IX X-1 originates from a variable jet.

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Spitzer Irac Observations of Ir Excess in Holmberg Ix X-1: A Circumbinary Disk or a Variable Jet?

Cited by 9 publications

References 50 publications

Outbursts of the intermediate-mass black hole HLX-1: a wind-instability scenario

Outbursts of the intermediate-mass black hole HLX-1: a wind-instability scenario

First Detection of Mid-infrared Variability from an Ultraluminous X-Ray Source Holmberg II X-1

Uncovering Red and Dusty Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources with Spitzer

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