Re-scrutiny of a best intermediate mass black hole candidate M82 X-1

While several recent works on ultraluminous X-ray sources show some of them to be stellar mass black holes or even neutron stars with special radiation mechanisms, M82 X-1 remains one of the best intermediate mass black hole candidates in the local universe. It exhibits amazing properties including quasi-periodic oscillations and extremely high X-ray luminosities suggesting an intermediate mass black hole, a 62-day orbital period from RXTE observations suggestive of a supergiant secondary, and possible radio flare emission that could result from relativistic beaming. Recently we have re-scrutinized this source with a wealth of data from Chandra, Swift/XRT and Hubble, and found three surprises about M82 X-1. Firstly, there is an X-ray transient that is only 1" away from M82 X-1, which has a peak luminosity only 1% of M82 X-1 and is usually hidden in the shadow of M82 X-1. This X-ray transient is associated with the previously reported radio flare. Secondly, two years' Swift/XRT observations, with much much better spatial resolution than RXTE observations, have shown that the 62-day period comes from another nearby less brighter ultra-luminous X-ray source, but definitely not from M82 X-1. Thirdly, we find an optical counterpart for M82 X-1 within the newly obtained 0.4" error circle on Hubble images, and its spectral energy distribution from Hubble photometry shows that it has excessive Halpha emission but no excessive SII emission. This lack of excessive SII emission suggests that the Halpha emission is not from the surrounding nebula but from an accretion disk. The monitoring of this Halpha emission line will allow us to determine the mass of the black hole via dynamical means.