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Copperwheat, CM, Cropper, M, Soria, R and Wu, KW (2005) Optical and infrared signatures of ultra-luminous X-ray sources. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 362 (1). pp. 79-88. ISSN 0035-8711
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Abstract
We have constructed a model to describe the optical emission from ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs). We assume a binary model with a black hole accreting matter from a Roche lobe filling companion star. We consider the effects of radiative transport and radiative equilibrium in the irradiated surfaces of both the star and a thin accretion disc. We have developed this model as a tool with which to positively identify the optical counterparts of ULXs, and subsequently derive parameters such as the black hole mass and the luminosity class and spectral type of the counterpart. We examine the dependence of the optical emission on these and other variables. We extend our model to examine the magnitude variation at infrared wavelengths, and we find that observations at these wavelengths may have more diagnostic power than in the optical. We apply our model to existing HST observations of the candidates for the optical counterpart of ULX X-7 in NGC 4559. All candidates could be consistent with an irradiated star alone, but we find that a number of them are too faint to fit with an irradiated star and disc together. Were one of these the optical counterpart to X-7, it would display a significant temporal variation.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2005 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics |
| Divisions: | Astrophysics Research Institute |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Jul 2019 09:45 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2021 09:10 |
| DOI or ID number: | 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09223.x |
| URI: | https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/11035 |
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