The Wolf-rayet Nature Of The Secondaries In Two Ultraluminous X-ray Sources
Abstract
The ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are off-nuclear X-ray point sources in nearby galaxies with luminosities exceeding the Eddington luminosity for stellar mass black holes. It has been hotly debated whether they are beamed sources with stellar mass black holes or sub-Eddington emitter with long sought intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs). Our recent studies with HST photometry and prism spectra, GMOS spectrum have revealed two ULX secondaries as Wolf-Rayet stars. I will discuss the implications in how these systems are formed, how they accrete, and how we can directly measure the black hole mass for such systems.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #215
- Pub Date:
- January 2010
- Bibcode:
- 2010AAS...21531201L