Identification of the X-ray Thermal Dominant State in an Ultraluminous X-ray Source in M82

The thermal dominant state in black hole binaries (BHBs) is well understood but rarely seen in ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). Using simultaneous observations of M82 with Chandra and XMM-Newton, we report the first likely identification of the thermal dominant state in a ULX based on the disappearance of X-ray oscillations, low timing noise, and a spectrum dominated by multicolor disk emission with luminosity varying to the fourth power of the disk temperature. This indicates that ULXs are similar to Galactic BHBs. The brightest X-ray spectrum can be fitted with a relativistic disk model with either a highly super-Eddington (L _disk/L _Edd = 160) non-rotating black hole (BH) or a close to Eddington (L _disk/L _Edd ~ 2) rapidly rotating BH. The latter interpretation is preferred, due to the absence of such highly super-Eddington states in Galactic BHs and active galactic nuclei, and suggests that the ULX in M82 contains a BH of 200-800 solar masses with nearly maximal spin. On long timescales, the source normally stays at a relatively low flux level with a regular 62-day orbital modulation and occasionally exhibits irregular flaring activity. These thermal dominant states are observed during outbursts.