A NuSTAR Study of Quasiperiodic Oscillations from the Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in M82

A NuSTAR Study of Quasiperiodic Oscillations from the Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in M82

The study of quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) in X-ray binaries provides valuable insights into the physics of accretion around compact objects. The M82 galaxy hosts multiple ultraluminous X-ray sources, including two prominent ones—X-1 and X-2—where X-1 is suspected to harbor an intermediate-mass...

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Main Authors: Hamza El Byad, Matteo Bachetti, Silvia Columbu, Giuseppe Rodriguez, Maura Pilia, Matthew J. Middleton, Dominic J. Walton, Murray Brightman, Hannah Earnshaw, Karl Forster, Brian Grefenstette, Felix Fürst, Marianne Heida, Matteo Imbrogno, Eleonora Veronica Lai, Thomas Maccarone
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
Subjects:
Ultraluminous x-ray sources
X-ray binary stars
X-ray astronomy
Compact objects
Accretion
Time domain astronomy
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aded8a
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Summary:The study of quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) in X-ray binaries provides valuable insights into the physics of accretion around compact objects. The M82 galaxy hosts multiple ultraluminous X-ray sources, including two prominent ones—X-1 and X-2—where X-1 is suspected to harbor an intermediate-mass black hole. In this work, we analyze data from 39 NuSTAR observations acquired between 2014 and 2024 to investigate the aperiodic X-ray variability in M82. In particular, we study in detail the evolution of the QPOs from M82 X-1 in the range 20–300 mHz. We do not find additional timing features in the data, besides a frequently present broad noise component at lower frequencies. The QPO behaves similarly to other classes of low-frequency oscillations in accreting compact objects, both black holes and neutron stars.
ISSN:1538-4357

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