Studying extreme accretion onto neutron stars and black holes

Paper Title:

The High Energy X-ray Probe (HEX-P): Studying Extreme Accretion with Ultraluminous X-ray Sources

Published on:

8 November 2023

Primary Category:

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Paper Authors:

Matteo Bachetti,

Matthew J. Middleton,

Ciro Pinto,

Andrés Gúrpide,

Dominic J. Walton,

Murray Brightman,

Bret Lehmer,

Timothy P. Roberts,

Georgios Vasilopoulos,

Jason Alford,

Roberta Amato,

Elena Ambrosi,

Lixin Dai,

Hannah P. Earnshaw,

Hamza El Byad,

Javier A. García,

Gian Luca Israel,

Amruta Jaodand,

Kristin Madsen,

Chandreyee Maitra,

Shifra Mandel,

Kaya Mori,

Fabio Pintore,

Ken Ohsuga,

Maura Pilia,

Daniel Stern,

George Younes,

Anna Wolter

Bullets

Key Details

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ULXs reach luminosities above the Eddington limit for stellar-mass black holes, indicating a new accretion regime

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Outflows and winds are ubiquitous in ULXs, but their launching mechanism is debated

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Some ULXs show pulsations identifying them as accreting neutron stars

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The exact compact object nature (neutron star or black hole) is unknown for most ULXs

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HEX-P's sensitivity and resolution will find more ULX pulsars and winds

Explore the topics in this paper

accretion

astrophysics

black holes

ultraluminous x-ray sources

x-ray astronomy

AI generated summary

Studying extreme accretion onto neutron stars and black holes

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are some of the most luminous objects in the universe. This paper reviews their key properties and open questions about these enigmatic sources. It highlights how the proposed HEX-P X-ray mission could revolutionize our understanding of ULXs through its unmatched combination of broadband X-ray coverage, high sensitivity, and excellent spectral and timing resolution.