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Ultra‐Luminous X‐ray sources and intermediate‐mass black holes
Author(s) -
Motch C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
astronomische nachrichten
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1521-3994
pISSN - 0004-6337
DOI - 10.1002/asna.201412094
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , accretion (finance) , black hole (networking) , intermediate mass black hole , luminosity , active galactic nucleus , stellar mass , accretion disc , eddington luminosity , astronomy , stellar black hole , spin flip , stars , star formation , galaxy , computer network , routing protocol , routing (electronic design automation) , computer science , link state routing protocol
The extremely high X‐ray luminosity of non‐nuclear Ultra Luminous X‐ray sources (ULXs) may be evidence of the existence of black holes with masses intermediate between those produced by stellar evolution and those encountered in active galactic nuclei. Alternatively, they may reflect the existence of stellar mass black holes undergoing steady super‐Eddington accretion. In this short review, we will describe the main X‐ray and optical observational properties of these ULXs and discuss their likely accretion regimes. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)