TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatially resolved spectroscopy of the globular cluster RZ 2109 and the nature of its black hole
AU - Peacock, Mark B.
AU - Zepf, Stephen E.
AU - Kundu, Arunav
AU - MacCarone, Thomas J.
AU - Rhode, Katherine L.
AU - Salzer, John J.
AU - Waters, Christopher Z.
AU - Ciardullo, Robin
AU - Gronwall, Caryl
AU - Stern, Daniel
PY - 2012/11/10
Y1 - 2012/11/10
N2 - We present optical Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) spectroscopy of RZ 2109, a globular cluster (GC) in the elliptical galaxy NGC4472. This GC is notable for hosting an ultraluminous X-ray source as well as associated strong and broad [O III] λλ4959, 5007 emission. We show that the HST/STIS spectroscopy spatially resolves the [O III] emission in RZ 2109. While we are unable to make a precise determination of the morphology of the emission-line nebula, the best-fitting models all require that the [O III] λ5007 emission has a half-light radius in the range 3-7pc. The extended nature of the [O III] λ5007 emission is inconsistent with published models that invoke an intermediate-mass black hole origin. It is also inconsistent with the ionization of ejecta from a nova in the cluster. The spatial scale of the nebula could be produced via the photoionization of a strong wind driven from a stellar mass black hole accreting at roughly its Eddington rate.
AB - We present optical Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) spectroscopy of RZ 2109, a globular cluster (GC) in the elliptical galaxy NGC4472. This GC is notable for hosting an ultraluminous X-ray source as well as associated strong and broad [O III] λλ4959, 5007 emission. We show that the HST/STIS spectroscopy spatially resolves the [O III] emission in RZ 2109. While we are unable to make a precise determination of the morphology of the emission-line nebula, the best-fitting models all require that the [O III] λ5007 emission has a half-light radius in the range 3-7pc. The extended nature of the [O III] λ5007 emission is inconsistent with published models that invoke an intermediate-mass black hole origin. It is also inconsistent with the ionization of ejecta from a nova in the cluster. The spatial scale of the nebula could be produced via the photoionization of a strong wind driven from a stellar mass black hole accreting at roughly its Eddington rate.
KW - 9globular clusters: general
KW - X-rays: binaries
KW - X-rays: galaxies: clusters
KW - galaxies: individual (NGC 4472)
KW - galaxies: star clusters: general
KW - galaxies: star clusters: individual: RZ 2109
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84868151703&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1088/0004-637X/759/2/126
DO - 10.1088/0004-637X/759/2/126
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84868151703
VL - 759
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
SN - 0004-637X
IS - 2
M1 - 126
ER -