The long-term variability of a population of ULXs monitored by Chandra

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Earnshaw, Hannah P., Patti, Gauri, Brightman, Murray, Sathyaprakash, Rajath, Walton, Dominic J., Fuerst, Felix, Roberts, Timothy P., Harrison, Fiona A.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Earnshaw, Hannah P.
Patti, Gauri
Brightman, Murray
Sathyaprakash, Rajath
Walton, Dominic J.
Fuerst, Felix
Roberts, Timothy P.
Harrison, Fiona A.
author_facet Earnshaw, Hannah P.
Patti, Gauri
Brightman, Murray
Sathyaprakash, Rajath
Walton, Dominic J.
Fuerst, Felix
Roberts, Timothy P.
Harrison, Fiona A.
contents We present preliminary results of a Chandra Large Program to monitor the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) populations of three nearby, ULX-rich galaxies over the course of a year, finding the ULX population to show a variety of long-term variability behaviours. Of a sample of 36 ULXs, some show persistent or moderately variable flux, often with a significant relationship between hardness and luminosity, consistent with a supercritically accreting source with varying accretion rates. Six show very high-amplitude variability with no strong relationship between luminosity and hardness, though not all of them show evidence of any long-term periodicity, nor of the bimodal distribution indicative of the propeller effect. We find evidence of additional eclipses for two previously-identified eclipsing ULXs. Additionally, many sources that were previously identified as ULXs in previous studies were not detected at ULX luminosities during our monitoring campaign, indicating a large number of transient ULXs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_07459
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The long-term variability of a population of ULXs monitored by Chandra
Earnshaw, Hannah P.
Patti, Gauri
Brightman, Murray
Sathyaprakash, Rajath
Walton, Dominic J.
Fuerst, Felix
Roberts, Timothy P.
Harrison, Fiona A.
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
We present preliminary results of a Chandra Large Program to monitor the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) populations of three nearby, ULX-rich galaxies over the course of a year, finding the ULX population to show a variety of long-term variability behaviours. Of a sample of 36 ULXs, some show persistent or moderately variable flux, often with a significant relationship between hardness and luminosity, consistent with a supercritically accreting source with varying accretion rates. Six show very high-amplitude variability with no strong relationship between luminosity and hardness, though not all of them show evidence of any long-term periodicity, nor of the bimodal distribution indicative of the propeller effect. We find evidence of additional eclipses for two previously-identified eclipsing ULXs. Additionally, many sources that were previously identified as ULXs in previous studies were not detected at ULX luminosities during our monitoring campaign, indicating a large number of transient ULXs.
title The long-term variability of a population of ULXs monitored by Chandra
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.07459