Rapid turn-on of a luminous X-ray source in the candidate Lyman continuum emitting galaxy Tol 0440-381
Abstract
Chandra observations of the nearby candidate Lyman continuum (LyC) emitting galaxy Tol 0440-381 show brightening of an X-ray source by at least a factor of 4 to a luminosity of $1.6 \times 10^{40} \rm \, erg \, s^{-1}$ over 3.8 d. The X-ray emission likely arises from either a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus or an ultraluminous X-ray source. The properties of the X-ray source are similar to those found in Haro 11 and Tololo 1247-232, the only other LyC emitting galaxies that have been resolved in X-rays. All three galaxies host luminous, variable, and hard-spectrum X-ray sources that are likely accretion-powered. Accretion on to compact objects produces powerful outflows and ionizing radiation that could help enable LyC escape.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- March 2022
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnrasl/slab127
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2201.03138
- Bibcode:
- 2022MNRAS.511L...8K
- Keywords:
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- galaxies: individual: Tol 0440-381;
- galaxies: star formation;
- X-rays: binaries;
- X-rays: galaxies;
- Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 5 pages, to appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters