X-ray spectral and optical properties of a ULX in NGC 4258 (M106)

TL;DR

This study analyzes the X-ray and optical properties of ULX X-6 in NGC 4258, revealing spectral variability, potential optical counterparts, and suggesting the source is a stellar-mass black hole with a mass of 10-15 solar masses.

Contribution

First detailed multi-wavelength analysis of ULX X-6 in NGC 4258, identifying optical counterparts and constraining the nature of the compact object.

Findings

ULX X-6 exhibits spectral variations across observations.

Three optical counterparts identified within the error radius.

The compact object likely has a mass of 10-15 solar masses.

Abstract

We study the X-ray and optical properties of the ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) X-6 in the nearby galaxy NGC 4258 (M106) based on the archival {\it XMM-Newton}, {\it Chandra}, {\it Swift}, and {\it Hubble Space Telescope} ({\it HST}) observations. The source has a peak luminosity of $L_{\mathrm{X}} \sim 2 \times 10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in the {\it XMM-Newton} observation of 2004 June. Consideration of the hardness ratios and spectral model parameters shows that the source seems to exhibit possible spectral variations throughout the X-ray observations. In the images from the {\it HST}/Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), three optical sources have been identified as counterpart candidates within the 1$\sigma$ error radius of 0$\arcsec$.3. The brightest one has an absolute magnitude of $M_{V} \approx$ $-$7.0 and shows extended structure. The remaining two sources have absolute magnitudes of $M_{V} \approx$ $-$5.8 and $-$5.3 mag. The possible spectral types of the candidates from brightest to dimmest were determined as B6$-$A5, B0$-$A7, and B2$-$A3, respectively. The counterparts of the X-ray source possibly belong to a young star cluster. Neither the standard disk model nor the slim disk model provides firm evidence to determine the spectral characteristics of ULX X-6. We argue that the mass of the compact object lies in the range $10-15M_{\sun}$ indicating that the compact source is most likely a stellar-mass black hole.