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Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources: an Observational Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2018

G. Fabbiano
G. Fabbiano*
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Abstract

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Ultraluminous X-ray Sources (ULXs) are, as suggested by their name, extremely luminous and rare X-ray emitting objects found in galaxies. Because of their luminosity, it has been suggested that they may be powered by accretion onto a black hole (BH) of a few 100 M⊙, more massive than what one would expect to originate from normal stellar evolution. Alternative models include young supernova remnants (SNRs) beamed emission from normal BH X-ray binaries (XRB) with high accretion rates, and relativistically beamed XRB omission. The observational evidence on ULXs suggests that while most of them are likely to be compact accreting objects, there is no clear unique evidence pointing either to the beamed XRB model or to accretion onto a very massive BH. It is possible that what we call ULXs are a heterogeneous family of X-ray sources.

Resumen

Resumen

Las fuentes ultraluminosas en rayos X (ULXs) son, como su propio nombre indica, emisores extremadamente luminosos en rayos X, además de objetos relativamente poco frecuentes en galaxias. Debido a su luminosidad so ha sugerido que puedon ser producidos por un fenómeno de acreción a un agujero negro (BH) de uno cientos de M⊙, es decir, a un agujero negro más masivo que el que se podría originar a partir del proceso de evolución estelar normal, Hay modelos alternativos que incluyen remanentes jóvenes de supernovas (SNRs) emisión dirigida, en forma, de haz desde un agujero negro normal perteneciente al sistema binario emisor en rayos X (XRB) y con un alto ritmo de acreción, о bien, sistemas binarios con emisión en rayos X que emiter un haz con volocidades relativistas. La evidencia observacional sugiere que, aunque la mayoría de estos objetos parecen ser objetos acrecientes compactos, no hay una evidencia clara de si estamos ante un sistema binare emisor de un haz dirigido en rayos X, о bien, ante un agujero negro acreciente muy masivo. Es posible que la que so denomina ULXs sea una familia heterogénea de fuentes de rayos X.

Keywords

X-RaysBinaries — X-Rays: Stars
Type
The Contributed Papers
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 194: Compact binaries in the galaxy and beyond , 2004 , pp. 46 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © Instituto de astronomia/revista mexicana de astronomίa y astrofίsica 2004

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