Ian Heywood

Abstract:

The small subset of hyper-luminous X-ray sources with luminosities in excess of ~1041 erg s-1 are hard to explain without the presence of an intermediate mass black hole, as significantly super-Eddington accretion and/or very small beaming angles are required. The recent discovery of HLX-1, the most luminous object in this class with a record breaking luminosity of ~1042 erg s-1 in the galaxy ESO 243-49, therefore currently provides some of the strongest evidence for the existence of intermediate mass black holes. HLX-1 is almost an order of magnitude brighter than the other hyperluminous sources, and appears to exhibit X-ray spectral and flux variability similar to Galactic stellar mass black hole X-ray binaries. In this paper we review the current state of knowledge on this intriguing source and outline the results of multi-wavelength studies from radio to ultra-violet wavelengths, including imaging and spectroscopy of the recently identified optical counterpart obtained with the Very Large Telescope. These results continue to support an intermediate mass black hole in excess of 500 M⊙. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Abstract:

The brightest Ultra-Luminous X-ray source HLX-1 in the galaxy ESO 243-49 currently provides strong evidence for the existence of intermediate mass black holes. Here we present the latest multi-wavelength results on this intriguing source in X-ray, UV and radio bands. We have refined the X-ray position to sub-arcsecond accuracy. We also report the detection of UV emission that could indicate ongoing star formation in the region around HLX-1. The lack of detectable radio emission at the X-ray position strengthens the argument against a background AGN. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.