Diffuse X-ray emission around an ultraluminous X-ray pulsar


Abstract in English

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are extragalactic X-ray emitters located off-center of their host galaxy and with a luminosity in excess of a few ${10^{39}text{ erg s}^{-1}}$, if emitted isotropically. The discovery of periodic modulation revealed that in some ULXs the accreting compact object is a neutron star, indicating luminosities substantially above their Eddington limit. The most extreme object in this respect is ${NGC 5907~ULX-1}$ (ULX1), with a peak luminosity that is 500 times its Eddington limit. During a Chandra observation to probe a low state of ULX1, we detected diffuse X-ray emission at the position of ULX1. Its diameter is $2.7 pm 1.0$ arcsec and contains 25 photons, none below 0.8 keV. We interpret this extended structure as an expanding nebula powered by the wind of ULX1. Its diameter of about ${200text{ pc}}$, characteristic energy of ${sim 1.9text{ keV}}$, and luminosity of ${sim 2times10^{38}text{ erg s}^{-1}}$ imply a mechanical power of ${1.3times10^{41}text{ erg s}^{-1}}$ and an age ${sim 7 times 10^{4}text{ yr}}$. This interpretation suggests that a genuinely super-Eddington regime can be sustained for time scales much longer than the spin-up time of the neutron star powering the system. As the mechanical power from a single ULX nebula can rival the injection rate of cosmic rays of an entire galaxy, ULX nebulae could be important cosmic ray accelerators.

Download