| Title |
A mass of less than 15 solar masses for the black hole in an ultraluminous X-ray source
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Nature, October 2014
|
| DOI | 10.1038/nature13730 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
C. Motch, M. W. Pakull, R. Soria, F. Grisé, G. Pietrzyński |
| Abstract |
Most ultraluminous X-ray sources have a typical set of properties not seen in Galactic stellar-mass black holes. They have luminosities of more than 3 × 10(39) ergs per second, unusually soft X-ray components (with a typical temperature of less than about 0.3 kiloelectronvolts) and a characteristic downturn in their spectra above about 5 kiloelectronvolts. Such puzzling properties have been interpreted either as evidence of intermediate-mass black holes or as emission from stellar-mass black holes accreting above their Eddington limit, analogous to some Galactic black holes at peak luminosity. Recently, a very soft X-ray spectrum was observed in a rare and transient stellar-mass black hole. Here we report that the X-ray source P13 in the galaxy NGC 7793 is in a binary system with a period of about 64 days and exhibits all three canonical properties of ultraluminous sources. By modelling the strong optical and ultraviolet modulations arising from X-ray heating of the B9Ia donor star, we constrain the black hole mass to be less than 15 solar masses. Our results demonstrate that in P13, soft thermal emission and spectral curvature are indeed signatures of supercritical accretion. By analogy, ultraluminous X-ray sources with similar X-ray spectra and luminosities of up to a few times 10(40) ergs per second can be explained by supercritical accretion onto massive stellar-mass black holes. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 13 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 2 | 15% |
| Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of | 1 | 8% |
| Brazil | 1 | 8% |
| Ireland | 1 | 8% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 8% |
| Japan | 1 | 8% |
| Canada | 1 | 8% |
| Unknown | 5 | 38% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 8 | 62% |
| Scientists | 4 | 31% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 8% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 42 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Chile | 1 | 2% |
| Italy | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 40 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 14 | 33% |
| Researcher | 8 | 19% |
| Student > Master | 4 | 10% |
| Student > Bachelor | 3 | 7% |
| Student > Postgraduate | 3 | 7% |
| Other | 8 | 19% |
| Unknown | 2 | 5% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Physics and Astronomy | 37 | 88% |
| Materials Science | 1 | 2% |
| Chemistry | 1 | 2% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 2 | 5% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 210. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 11 October 2017.
All research outputs
#167,069
of 23,822,306 outputs
Outputs from Nature
#10,612
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Outputs of similar age
#1,589
of 256,866 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature
#174
of 1,073 outputs
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