SIMBAD references

2010ApJ...712L...1I - Astrophys. J., 712, L1-L4 (2010/March-3)

Evidence for a stellar disruption by an intermediate-mass black hole in an extragalactic globular cluster.

IRWIN J.A., BRINK T.G., BREGMAN J.N. and ROBERTS T.P.

Abstract (from CDS):

We report [O III] λ5007 and [N II] λ6583 emission from a globular cluster harboring the ultraluminous X-ray source CXOJ033831.8 - 352604 in the Fornax elliptical galaxy NGC 1399. No accompanying Balmer emission lines are present in the spectrum. One possibility is that the forbidden lines emanate from X-ray-illuminated debris of a star that has been tidally disrupted by an intermediate-mass black hole, with this debris also feeding the black hole leading to the observed X-ray emission. The line strengths indicate that the minimum size of the emitting region is ∼1015 cm, and if the 70 km/s half-widths of the emission lines represent rotation around the black hole, a minimum black hole mass of 1000 M☉ is implied. The non-detection of Hα and Hβ emission lines suggests a white dwarf star was disrupted, although the presence of strong nitrogen emission is somewhat of a mystery.

Abstract Copyright: ∼

Journal keyword(s): galaxies: individual: NGC 1399 - galaxies: star clusters: general - globular clusters: general - X-rays: binaries - X-rays: galaxies: clusters

Simbad objects: 12

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