A multi-wavelength view of distinct accretion regimes in the pulsating ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 1313 X-2

TL;DR

This study investigates the accretion regimes of the pulsating ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 1313 X-2 through simultaneous X-ray and optical/UV observations, revealing spectral state changes and the dominance of a companion star in optical light.

Contribution

It provides the first simultaneous multi-wavelength observations of NGC 1313 X-2, linking X-ray spectral states to optical/UV/IR fluxes and proposing a model involving disc precession and a companion star.

Findings

X-ray spectrum shifts between HUL and broadened disc regimes.

Optical/UV fluxes remain stable despite X-ray spectral changes.

Near-IR flux decreases as X-ray flux increases.

Abstract

NGC 1313 X-2 is one of the few known pulsating ultraluminous X-ray sources (PULXs), and so is thought to contain a neutron star that accretes at highly super-Eddington rates. However, the physics of this accretion remains to be determined. Here we report the results of two simultaneous XMM-Newton and HST observations of this PULX taken to observe two distinct X-ray behaviours as defined from its Swift light curve. We find that the X-ray spectrum of the PULX is best described by the hard ultraluminous (HUL) regime during the observation taken in the lower flux, lower variability amplitude behaviour; its spectrum changes to a broadened disc during the higher flux, higher variability amplitude epoch. However, we see no accompanying changes in the optical/UV fluxes, with the only difference being a reduction in flux in the near-IR as the X-ray flux increased. We attempt to fit irradiation models to explain the UV/optical/IR fluxes but they fail to provide meaningful constraints. Instead, a physical model for the system leads us to conclude that the optical light is dominated by a companion O/B star, albeit with an IR excess that may be indicative of a jet. We discuss how these results may be consistent with the precession of the inner regions of the accretion disc leading to changes in the observed X-ray properties, but not the optical, and whether we should expect to observe reprocessed emission from ULXs.