| Issue |
A&A
Volume 627, July 2019
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | A63 | |
| Number of page(s) | 7 | |
| Section | Extragalactic astronomy | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201935414 | |
| Published online | 01 July 2019 | |
ULX contribution to stellar feedback: an intermediate-mass black hole candidate and the population of ULXs in the low-metallicity starburst galaxy ESO 338-4⋆
1
Institute for physics and astronomy, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24/25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
e-mail: lida@astro.physik.uni-potsdam.de
2
Department of Astronomy, Kazan Federal University, Kremlevskaya Str 18, Kazan, Russia
3
Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, Oscar Klein Centre, AlbaNova University Centre, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
4
Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC–INTA), 28850 Torrejon de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain
5
European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Science Operations Departement, 28692 Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
Received:
6
March
2019
Accepted:
17
May
2019
Context. X-ray radiation from accreting compact objects is an important part of stellar feedback. The metal-poor galaxy ESO 338-4 has experienced vigorous starburst during the last <40 Myr and contains some of the most massive super star clusters in the nearby Universe. Given its starburst age and its star-formation rate, ESO 338-4 is one of the most efficient nearby manufactures of neutron stars and black holes, hence providing an excellent laboratory for feedback studies.
Aims. We aim to use X-ray observations with the largest modern X-ray telescopes XMM-Newton and Chandra to unveil the most luminous accreting neutron stars and black holes in ESO 338-4.
Methods. We compared X-ray images and spectra with integral field spectroscopic observations in the optical to constrain the nature of strong X-ray emitters.
Results. X-ray observations uncover three ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in ESO 338-4. The brightest among them, ESO 338 X-1, has X-ray luminosity in excess of 1040 erg s−1. We speculate that ESO 338-4 X-1 is powered by accretion on an intermediate-mass (≳300 M⊙) black hole. We show that X-ray radiation from ULXs and hot superbubbles strongly contributes to He II ionization and general stellar feedback in this template starburst galaxy.
Key words: galaxies: dwarf / galaxies: individual: ESO 338-4 / X-rays: binaries / X-rays: ISM
© ESO 2019
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