Changes in the X-ray irradiation of an ultraluminous X-ray source
Abstract
Optical emission observed from ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) comesfrom the irradiated disk and the donor star. Disentangling the twocomponents has always been an unsolved problem. We have discoveredthat the ULX NGC 1313 X-2 switches between two distinct X-rayspectral/luminosity states on long timescales, ~ 6--10 weeks. Thismakes it an ideal laboratory to study the effects of variable X-rayirradiation on the disk and donor star. We propose a multiband study ofNGC 1313 X-2 from near-IR to X-rays, with XMM, HST and Swift. We willmeasure the contribution of X-ray reprocessing to the optical emissionand determine whether irradiation correlates with disk winds.
- Publication:
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XMM-Newton Proposal
- Pub Date:
- October 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014xmm..prop..181G