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NuSTAR reveals the hidden nature of SS433

Middleton, M. J. and Walton, D. J. and Alston, W. N. and Dauser, T. and Eikenberry, S. and Jiang, Y.-F. and Fabian, A. C. and Fuerst, F. and Brightman, M. and Marshall, H. L. and Parker, M. L. and Pinto, C. and Harrison, F. A. and Bachetti, M. and Altamirano, D. and Bird, A. J. and Perez, G. and Miller-Jones, J. C. A. and Charles, P. A. and Boggs, S. and Christensen, F. and Craig, W. and Forster, K. and Grefenstette, B. and Hailey, C. and Madsen, K. and Stern, D. and Zhang, W. W. (2021) NuSTAR reveals the hidden nature of SS433. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 506 (1). pp. 1045-1058. ISSN 0035-8711. doi:10.1093/mnras/stab1280. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20190225-081654781

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Abstract

SS433 is the only Galactic binary system known to persistently accrete at highly super-critical (or hyper-critical) rates, similar to those in tidal disruption events, and likely needed to explain the rapid growth of those very high redshift quasars containing massive SMBHs. Probing the inner regions of SS433 in the X-rays is crucial to understanding this system, and super-critical accretion in general, but is highly challenging due to obscuration by the surrounding wind, driven from the accretion flow. NuSTAR observed SS433 in the hard X-ray band across multiple phases of its 162 d superorbital precession period. Spectral-timing tools allow us to infer that the hard X-ray emission from the inner regions is likely being scattered towards us by the walls of the wind-cone. By comparing to numerical models, we determine an intrinsic X-ray luminosity of ≥ 2 × 10³⁷ erg s⁻¹ and that, if viewed face on, we would infer an apparent luminosity of >1 × 10³⁹ erg s⁻¹, confirming SS433’s long-suspected nature as an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX). We present the discovery of a narrow, ∼100 s lag due to atomic processes occurring in outflowing material travelling at least 0.14–0.29c, which matches absorption lines seen in ULXs and – in the future – will allow us to map a super-critical outflow for the first time.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab1280DOIArticle
https://arxiv.org/abs/1810.10518arXivDiscussion Paper
https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/archive.htmlRelated ItemHEASARC NuSTAR data repository
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Middleton, M. J.0000-0002-8183-2970
Walton, D. J.0000-0001-5819-3552
Alston, W. N.0000-0003-2658-6559
Dauser, T.0000-0003-4583-9048
Eikenberry, S.0000-0002-1332-5061
Fabian, A. C.0000-0002-9378-4072
Fuerst, F.0000-0003-0388-0560
Brightman, M.0000-0002-8147-2602
Parker, M. L.0000-0002-8466-7317
Pinto, C.0000-0003-2532-7379
Harrison, F. A.0000-0003-2992-8024
Bachetti, M.0000-0002-4576-9337
Altamirano, D.0000-0002-3422-0074
Miller-Jones, J. C. A.0000-0003-3124-2814
Boggs, S.0000-0001-9567-4224
Christensen, F.0000-0001-5679-1946
Forster, K.0000-0001-5800-5531
Grefenstette, B.0000-0002-1984-2932
Madsen, K.0000-0003-1252-4891
Stern, D.0000-0003-2686-9241
Zhang, W. W.0000-0002-1426-9698
Additional Information:© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model). Accepted 2021 April 27. Received 2021 April 6; in original form 2020 May 29. Published: 06 May 2021. The authors thank the anonymous referee for their valuable suggestions. MJM and DJW appreciate support via STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowships. WNA is supported by an ESA research fellowship. This research was partially supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects funding scheme (project DP200102471). The authors thank Keith Arnaud for useful suggestions. This research has made use of data obtained with NuSTAR, a project led by Caltech, funded by NASA and managed by NASA/JPL, and has utilized the NUSTARDAS software package, jointly developed by the ASDC (Italy) and Caltech (USA). Data Availability: The data underlying this article were accessed from the HEASARC NuSTAR data repository at https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/archive.html. The derived data generated in this research will be shared on reasonable request to the corresponding author.
Group:Astronomy Department, NuSTAR, Space Radiation Laboratory
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)UNSPECIFIED
European Space Agency (ESA)UNSPECIFIED
Australian Research CouncilDP200102471
NASA/JPL/CaltechUNSPECIFIED
Subject Keywords:accretion, accretion discs –X-rays: binaries
Issue or Number:1
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stab1280
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20190225-081654781
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20190225-081654781
Official Citation:M J Middleton, D J Walton, W Alston, T Dauser, S Eikenberry, Y-F Jiang, A C Fabian, F Fuerst, M Brightman, H Marshall, M Parker, C Pinto, F A Harrison, M Bachetti, D Altamirano, A J Bird, G Perez, J Miller-Jones, P Charles, S Boggs, F Christensen, W Craig, K Forster, B Grefenstette, C Hailey, K Madsen, D Stern, W Zhang, NuSTAR reveals the hidden nature of SS433, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 506, Issue 1, September 2021, Pages 1045–1058, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab1280
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:93196
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: Tony Diaz
Deposited On:25 Feb 2019 16:27
Last Modified:26 Oct 2021 22:55

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