Bright radio emission from an ultraluminous stellar-mass microquasar in M 31

Matthew J. Middleton; James C A Miller-Jones; Sera Markoff; Rob Fender; Martin Henze; Natasha Hurley-Walker; Anna M M Scaife; Timothy P. Roberts; Dominic Walton; John Carpenter; Jean Pierre MacQuart; Geoffrey C. Bower; Mark Gurwell; Wolfgang Pietsch; Frank Haberl; Jonathan Harris; Michael Daniel; Junayd Miah; Chris Done; John S. Morgan; Hugh Dickinson; Phil Charles; Vadim Burwitz; Massimo Della Valle; Michael Freyberg; Jochen Greiner; Margarita Hernanz; Dieter H. Hartmann; Despina Hatzidimitriou; Arno Riffeser; Gloria Sala; Stella Seitz; Pablo Reig; Arne Rau; Marina Orio; David Titterington; Keith Grainge

doi:10.1038/nature11697

Bright radio emission from an ultraluminous stellar-mass microquasar in M 31

Matthew J. Middleton, James C A Miller-Jones, Sera Markoff, Rob Fender, Martin Henze, Natasha Hurley-Walker, Anna M M Scaife, Timothy P. Roberts, Dominic Walton, John Carpenter, Jean Pierre MacQuart, Geoffrey C. Bower, Mark Gurwell, Wolfgang Pietsch, Frank Haberl, Jonathan Harris, Michael Daniel, Junayd Miah, Chris Done, John S. MorganHugh Dickinson, Phil Charles, Vadim Burwitz, Massimo Della Valle, Michael Freyberg, Jochen Greiner, Margarita Hernanz, Dieter H. Hartmann, Despina Hatzidimitriou, Arno Riffeser, Gloria Sala, Stella Seitz, Pablo Reig, Arne Rau, Marina Orio, David Titterington, Keith Grainge

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

A subset of ultraluminous X-ray sources (those with luminosities of less than 10 40 erg s -1; ref. 1) are thought to be powered by the accretion of gas onto black holes with masses of ∼5-20, probably by means of an accretion disk. The X-ray and radio emission are coupled in such Galactic sources; the radio emission originates in a relativistic jet thought to be launched from the innermost regions near the black hole, with the most powerful emission occurring when the rate of infalling matter approaches a theoretical maximum (the Eddington limit). Only four such maximal sources are known in the Milky Way, and the absorption of soft X-rays in the interstellar medium hinders the determination of the causal sequence of events that leads to the ejection of the jet. Here we report radio and X-ray observations of a bright new X-ray source in the nearby galaxy M 31, whose peak luminosity exceeded 10 39 erg s -1. The radio luminosity is extremely high and shows variability on a timescale of tens of minutes, arguing that the source is highly compact and powered by accretion close to the Eddington limit onto a black hole of stellar mass. Continued radio and X-ray monitoring of such sources should reveal the causal relationship between the accretion flow and the powerful jet emission. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	187-190
Number of pages	3
Journal	Nature
Volume	493
Issue number	7431
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11697
Publication status	Published - 10 Jan 2013

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Middleton, M. J., Miller-Jones, J. C. A., Markoff, S., Fender, R., Henze, M., Hurley-Walker, N., Scaife, A. M. M., Roberts, T. P., Walton, D., Carpenter, J., MacQuart, J. P., Bower, G. C., Gurwell, M., Pietsch, W., Haberl, F., Harris, J., Daniel, M., Miah, J., Done, C., ... Grainge, K. (2013). Bright radio emission from an ultraluminous stellar-mass microquasar in M 31. Nature, 493(7431), 187-190. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11697

@article{3b1de8fbc1bc40fbb4db112fec327110,

title = "Bright radio emission from an ultraluminous stellar-mass microquasar in M 31",

abstract = "A subset of ultraluminous X-ray sources (those with luminosities of less than 10 40 erg s -1; ref. 1) are thought to be powered by the accretion of gas onto black holes with masses of ∼5-20, probably by means of an accretion disk. The X-ray and radio emission are coupled in such Galactic sources; the radio emission originates in a relativistic jet thought to be launched from the innermost regions near the black hole, with the most powerful emission occurring when the rate of infalling matter approaches a theoretical maximum (the Eddington limit). Only four such maximal sources are known in the Milky Way, and the absorption of soft X-rays in the interstellar medium hinders the determination of the causal sequence of events that leads to the ejection of the jet. Here we report radio and X-ray observations of a bright new X-ray source in the nearby galaxy M 31, whose peak luminosity exceeded 10 39 erg s -1. The radio luminosity is extremely high and shows variability on a timescale of tens of minutes, arguing that the source is highly compact and powered by accretion close to the Eddington limit onto a black hole of stellar mass. Continued radio and X-ray monitoring of such sources should reveal the causal relationship between the accretion flow and the powerful jet emission. {\textcopyright} 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.",

author = "Middleton, {Matthew J.} and Miller-Jones, {James C A} and Sera Markoff and Rob Fender and Martin Henze and Natasha Hurley-Walker and Scaife, {Anna M M} and Roberts, {Timothy P.} and Dominic Walton and John Carpenter and MacQuart, {Jean Pierre} and Bower, {Geoffrey C.} and Mark Gurwell and Wolfgang Pietsch and Frank Haberl and Jonathan Harris and Michael Daniel and Junayd Miah and Chris Done and Morgan, {John S.} and Hugh Dickinson and Phil Charles and Vadim Burwitz and Valle, {Massimo Della} and Michael Freyberg and Jochen Greiner and Margarita Hernanz and Hartmann, {Dieter H.} and Despina Hatzidimitriou and Arno Riffeser and Gloria Sala and Stella Seitz and Pablo Reig and Arne Rau and Marina Orio and David Titterington and Keith Grainge",

year = "2013",

month = jan,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1038/nature11697",

language = "English",

volume = "493",

pages = "187--190",

journal = "Nature",

issn = "0028-0836",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

number = "7431",

}

Middleton, MJ, Miller-Jones, JCA, Markoff, S, Fender, R, Henze, M, Hurley-Walker, N, Scaife, AMM, Roberts, TP, Walton, D, Carpenter, J, MacQuart, JP, Bower, GC, Gurwell, M, Pietsch, W, Haberl, F, Harris, J, Daniel, M, Miah, J, Done, C, Morgan, JS, Dickinson, H, Charles, P, Burwitz, V, Valle, MD, Freyberg, M, Greiner, J, Hernanz, M, Hartmann, DH, Hatzidimitriou, D, Riffeser, A, Sala, G, Seitz, S, Reig, P, Rau, A, Orio, M, Titterington, D & Grainge, K 2013, 'Bright radio emission from an ultraluminous stellar-mass microquasar in M 31', Nature, vol. 493, no. 7431, pp. 187-190. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11697

TY - JOUR

T1 - Bright radio emission from an ultraluminous stellar-mass microquasar in M 31

AU - Middleton, Matthew J.

AU - Miller-Jones, James C A

AU - Markoff, Sera

AU - Fender, Rob

AU - Henze, Martin

AU - Hurley-Walker, Natasha

AU - Scaife, Anna M M

AU - Roberts, Timothy P.

AU - Walton, Dominic

AU - Carpenter, John

AU - MacQuart, Jean Pierre

AU - Bower, Geoffrey C.

AU - Gurwell, Mark

AU - Pietsch, Wolfgang

AU - Haberl, Frank

AU - Harris, Jonathan

AU - Daniel, Michael

AU - Miah, Junayd

AU - Done, Chris

AU - Morgan, John S.

AU - Dickinson, Hugh

AU - Charles, Phil

AU - Burwitz, Vadim

AU - Valle, Massimo Della

AU - Freyberg, Michael

AU - Greiner, Jochen

AU - Hernanz, Margarita

AU - Hartmann, Dieter H.

AU - Hatzidimitriou, Despina

AU - Riffeser, Arno

AU - Sala, Gloria

AU - Seitz, Stella

AU - Reig, Pablo

AU - Rau, Arne

AU - Orio, Marina

AU - Titterington, David

AU - Grainge, Keith

PY - 2013/1/10

Y1 - 2013/1/10

N2 - A subset of ultraluminous X-ray sources (those with luminosities of less than 10 40 erg s -1; ref. 1) are thought to be powered by the accretion of gas onto black holes with masses of ∼5-20, probably by means of an accretion disk. The X-ray and radio emission are coupled in such Galactic sources; the radio emission originates in a relativistic jet thought to be launched from the innermost regions near the black hole, with the most powerful emission occurring when the rate of infalling matter approaches a theoretical maximum (the Eddington limit). Only four such maximal sources are known in the Milky Way, and the absorption of soft X-rays in the interstellar medium hinders the determination of the causal sequence of events that leads to the ejection of the jet. Here we report radio and X-ray observations of a bright new X-ray source in the nearby galaxy M 31, whose peak luminosity exceeded 10 39 erg s -1. The radio luminosity is extremely high and shows variability on a timescale of tens of minutes, arguing that the source is highly compact and powered by accretion close to the Eddington limit onto a black hole of stellar mass. Continued radio and X-ray monitoring of such sources should reveal the causal relationship between the accretion flow and the powerful jet emission. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

AB - A subset of ultraluminous X-ray sources (those with luminosities of less than 10 40 erg s -1; ref. 1) are thought to be powered by the accretion of gas onto black holes with masses of ∼5-20, probably by means of an accretion disk. The X-ray and radio emission are coupled in such Galactic sources; the radio emission originates in a relativistic jet thought to be launched from the innermost regions near the black hole, with the most powerful emission occurring when the rate of infalling matter approaches a theoretical maximum (the Eddington limit). Only four such maximal sources are known in the Milky Way, and the absorption of soft X-rays in the interstellar medium hinders the determination of the causal sequence of events that leads to the ejection of the jet. Here we report radio and X-ray observations of a bright new X-ray source in the nearby galaxy M 31, whose peak luminosity exceeded 10 39 erg s -1. The radio luminosity is extremely high and shows variability on a timescale of tens of minutes, arguing that the source is highly compact and powered by accretion close to the Eddington limit onto a black hole of stellar mass. Continued radio and X-ray monitoring of such sources should reveal the causal relationship between the accretion flow and the powerful jet emission. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

U2 - 10.1038/nature11697

DO - 10.1038/nature11697

M3 - Article

SN - 0028-0836

VL - 493

SP - 187

EP - 190

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

IS - 7431

ER -

Bright radio emission from an ultraluminous stellar-mass microquasar in M 31

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