TY - JOUR
T1 - Deep radio imaging of 47 Tuc identifies the peculiar X-ray source X9 as a new black hole candidate
AU - Miller-Jones, J. C.A.
AU - Strader, J.
AU - Heinke, C. O.
AU - Maccarone, T. J.
AU - van den Berg, M.
AU - Knigge, C.
AU - Chomiuk, L.
AU - Noyola, E.
AU - Russell, T. D.
AU - Seth, A. C.
AU - Sivakoff, G. R.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 The Authors.
PY - 2015/11/11
Y1 - 2015/11/11
N2 - We report the detection of steady radio emission from the known X-ray source X9 in the globular cluster 47 Tuc. With a double-peaked C IV emission line in its ultraviolet spectrum providing a clear signature of accretion, this source had been previously classified as a cataclysmic variable. In deep ATCA (Australia Telescope Compact Array) imaging from 2010 and 2013, we identified a steady radio source at both 5.5 and 9.0 GHz, with a radio spectral index (defined as Sν ∝να) of α = -0.4 ± 0.4. Our measured flux density of 42 ± 4 μJy beam-1 at 5.5 GHz implies a radio luminosity (νLν) of 5.8 × 1027 erg s-1, significantly higher than any previous radio detection of an accreting white dwarf. Transitional millisecond pulsars, which have the highest radio-to-X-ray flux ratios among accreting neutron stars (still a factor of a few below accreting black holes at the same LX), show distinctly different patterns of X-ray and radio variability than X9. When combined with archival X-ray measurements, our radio detection places 47 Tuc X9 very close to the radio/X-ray correlation for accreting black holes, and we explore the possibility that this source is instead a quiescent stellar-mass black hole X-ray binary. The nature of the donor star is uncertain; although the luminosity of the optical counterpart is consistent with a low-mass main-sequence donor star, the mass transfer rate required to produce the high quiescent X-ray luminosity of 1033 erg s-1 suggests the system may instead be ultracompact, with an orbital period of order 25 min. This is the fourth quiescent black hole candidate discovered to date in a Galactic globular cluster, and the only one with a confirmed accretion signature from its optical/ultraviolet spectrum.
AB - We report the detection of steady radio emission from the known X-ray source X9 in the globular cluster 47 Tuc. With a double-peaked C IV emission line in its ultraviolet spectrum providing a clear signature of accretion, this source had been previously classified as a cataclysmic variable. In deep ATCA (Australia Telescope Compact Array) imaging from 2010 and 2013, we identified a steady radio source at both 5.5 and 9.0 GHz, with a radio spectral index (defined as Sν ∝να) of α = -0.4 ± 0.4. Our measured flux density of 42 ± 4 μJy beam-1 at 5.5 GHz implies a radio luminosity (νLν) of 5.8 × 1027 erg s-1, significantly higher than any previous radio detection of an accreting white dwarf. Transitional millisecond pulsars, which have the highest radio-to-X-ray flux ratios among accreting neutron stars (still a factor of a few below accreting black holes at the same LX), show distinctly different patterns of X-ray and radio variability than X9. When combined with archival X-ray measurements, our radio detection places 47 Tuc X9 very close to the radio/X-ray correlation for accreting black holes, and we explore the possibility that this source is instead a quiescent stellar-mass black hole X-ray binary. The nature of the donor star is uncertain; although the luminosity of the optical counterpart is consistent with a low-mass main-sequence donor star, the mass transfer rate required to produce the high quiescent X-ray luminosity of 1033 erg s-1 suggests the system may instead be ultracompact, with an orbital period of order 25 min. This is the fourth quiescent black hole candidate discovered to date in a Galactic globular cluster, and the only one with a confirmed accretion signature from its optical/ultraviolet spectrum.
KW - Globular clusters: individual: 47 Tuc
KW - Radio continuum: general
KW - Stars: black holes
KW - X-rays: binaries
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84978270516&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/mnras/stv1869
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stv1869
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84978270516
SN - 0035-8711
VL - 453
SP - 3918
EP - 3931
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
IS - 4
ER -