Bibcode
Garcia, M. R.; Kong, A.; Dosaj, A.; McClintock, J. E.; Primini, F. A.; Di Stefano, R.; Barmby, P.; Murray, S. S.
Referencia bibliográfica
American Physical Society, April Meeting, Jointly Sponsored with the High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American Astronomical Society April 20 - 23, 2002 Albuquerque Convention Center Albuquerque, New Mexico Meeting ID: APR02, abstract #X11.008
Fecha de publicación:
4
2002
Número de citas
0
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
We present a summary of Chandra monitoring observations of M31, and
partial results of our HST program to search for UV counterparts to M31
X-ray Transients. The first 8 epochs of monitoring spread over nearly 2
years reveals more than a dozen transient sources, with peak
luminosities ranging from 1 × 10^37ergs sec-1 to 3
× 10^38ergs sec-1. While no definitive UV counterparts
have yet been found, the X-ray brightest of these transients has the
strongest candidate counterpart. The discovery of repeated outbursts
from two of the transients yields new direct information on duty cycles
of transients in M31. An unremarkable source with LX ~
10^37ergs sec-1 may be associated with the galaxy's nuclear
supermassive black hole (M31*). The cool temperature of the diffuse gas
in the core of M31 ( ~0.35 keV), along with the high mass of M31*,
indicate a Bondi-Hoyle accretion radius of ~arc-second scale. As well as
being the closest supermassive black holes, M31* and Sgr A* may be among
the few with Bondi-Hoyle radii which are resolvable with X-ray
observations . This work supported by NASA grants GO2-3103X and
HST-GO-9087.