CXO M31 J004253.1+411422: The First Ultra-luminous X-ray Transient In M 31
Abstract
We report on Chandra/Swift/XMM-Newton observations of an ultraluminous X-ray (ULX) source in M 31 discovered by Chandra-HRC-I on December 17, 2009. The light curve was established using follow up observations with Swift-XRT and XMM-Newton. The X-ray spectrum is best fit by a combination of a thermal component with kT 1 keV and a non-thermal component (single powerlaw) with photon index 2.6. The maximum unabsorbed total luminosity derived from this data is 3.8 x 1039 erg/s, and subsequently decreased to 0.6 x 1039 erg/s on a time scale of one month. The luminosity exhibits a FRED (Fast Rise Exponential Decay) pattern with an exponential time constant of 32 days. The underlying source for this ULX is likely a 14 Msun black hole, accreting near the Eddington limit.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #219
- Pub Date:
- January 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AAS...21944205K