Unveiling recurrent jets of the ULX Holmberg II X-1: evidence for a massive stellar-mass black hole?

We report on the discovery of an apparent triple radio structure hidden inside the radio bubble of the ultraluminous X-ray source Holmberg II X-1. The morphology is consistent with a collimated jet structure, which is observed to emit optically thin synchrotron radiation. The central component has a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cseh, D., Kaaret, P., Corbel, S., Grisé, F., Lang, C., Kording, E., Falcke, H., Jonker, P., Miller-Jones, James, Farrell, S., Yang, Y., Paragi, Z., Frey, S.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Oxford University Press 2014
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Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40063
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Summary:We report on the discovery of an apparent triple radio structure hidden inside the radio bubble of the ultraluminous X-ray source Holmberg II X-1. The morphology is consistent with a collimated jet structure, which is observed to emit optically thin synchrotron radiation. The central component has a steep radio spectrum and is brighter than the outer components indicating a renewed radio activity. We estimate a minimum time-averaged jet power of ~2 × 10^39 erg s-1 that is associated with a time-averaged isotropic X-ray luminosity of at least 4 × 10^39 erg s-1. Our results suggest that Holmberg II X-1 is powered by a black hole of MBH = 25 M☉, that is inferred to be accreting at a high Eddington rate with intermittent radio activity.