Investigating slim disk solutions for HLX-1 in ESO 243-49

TL;DR

This study models the accretion disk of HLX-1, an intermediate mass black hole candidate, using multi-epoch X-ray data, revealing sub-Eddington accretion, a black hole mass of about 2 x 10^4 solar masses, and a roughly annual outburst cycle.

Contribution

It provides a detailed disk model fitting for HLX-1, estimating its black hole mass, accretion regime, and outburst mechanism, based on multi-epoch X-ray observations.

Findings

Black hole mass estimated at ~2 x 10^4 solar masses.

Accretion flow is in the sub-Eddington regime.

Outbursts recur approximately every year.

Abstract

The hyper luminous X-ray source HLX-1 in the galaxy ESO 243-49, currently the best intermediate mass black hole candidate, displays spectral transitions similar to those observed in Galactic black hole binaries, but with a luminosity 100-1000 times higher. We investigated the X-ray properties of this unique source fitting multi-epoch data collected by Swift, XMM-Newton & Chandra with a disk model computing spectra for a wide range of sub- and super-Eddington accretion rates assuming a non-spinning black hole and a face-on disk (i = 0 deg). Under these assumptions we find that the black hole in HLX-1 is in the intermediate mass range (~2 x 10^4 M_odot) and the accretion flow is in the sub-Eddington regime. The disk radiation efficiency is eta = 0.11 +/-0.03. We also show that the source does follow the L_X ~ T^4 relation for our mass estimate. At the outburst peaks, the source radiates near the Eddington limit. The accretion rate then stays constant around 4 x 10^(-4) M_odot yr^(-1) for several days and then decreases exponentially. Such "plateaus" in the accretion rate could be evidence that enhanced mass transfer rate is the driving outburst mechanism in HLX-1. We also report on the new outburst observed in August 2011 by the Swift-X-ray Telescope. The time of this new outburst further strengthens the ~1 year recurrence timescale.