Academic literature on the topic 'Cartwheel galaxy'

AbstractROSAT HRI observations of the Cartwheel galaxy indicate that there is X-ray emission from the outer ring in connection with the strongest HII regions in the southern portion of the ring. No significant emission is detected from the nucleus or from the inner ring. This implies a strong connection between star formation activity and X-ray emission in this ring galaxy.

ABSTRACT We report the discovery of a bar, a pseudo-bulge, and unresolved point source in the archetype collisional ring galaxy Cartwheel using careful morphological analysis of a near-infrared (NIR) Ks-band image of excellent quality (seeing = 0.42″) at the ESO archive. The bar is oval-shaped with a semi-major axis length of 3.23″ (∼2.09 kpc), with almost a flat light distribution along it. The bulge is almost round (ellipticity = 0.21) with an effective radius of 1.62″ (∼1.05 kpc) and a Sersic index of 0.99, parameters typical of pseudo-bulges in late-type galaxies. The newly discovered bar is not recognizable as such in the optical images even with more than a factor of 2 higher spatial resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope, due to a combination of its red colour and the presence of dusty features. The observed bar and pseudo-bulge most likely belonged to the pre-collisional progenitor of the Cartwheel. The discovery of a bar in an archetype collisional ring galaxy Cartwheel is the first observational evidence to confirm the prediction that bars can survive a drop-through collision along with the morphological structures like a central bulge (pseudo).

AbstractUltraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are end points of stellar evolution. They are mostly interpreted as binary systems with a massive donor. They are also the most probable progenitors for BH-BH, and even more, for BH-NS coalescence. Parameters of ULXs are not know and need to be better determined, in particular the link with the metallicity of the environment which has been invoked frequently but not proven strongly. We have tackled this problem by using a MUSE DEEP mosaic of the Cartwheel galaxy and applying a Monte Carlo code that jointly fits spectroscopy and photometry. We measure the metallicity of the emitting gas in the ring and at the positions of X-ray sources by constructing spatially resolved emission line ratio maps and BPT diagnostic maps. The Carthweel is the archetypal ring galaxy and the location and formation time of new stellar populations is easier to reconstruct than in more normal galaxies. It has the largest population of ULXs ever observed in a single galaxy (16 sources have been classified as ULXs in Chandra and XMM-Newton data). The Cartwheel galaxy is therefore the ideal laboratory to study the relation between Star Formation (SF Rates and SF History) and number of ULXs and also their final fate. We find that the age of the stellar population in the outer ring is consistent with being produced in the impact (≤300Myr) and that the metallicity is mostly sub-solar, even if solutions can be found with a solar metallicity that account for most observed properties. The findings for the Cartwheel will be a testbed for further modelisation of binary formation and evolution paths.

AbstractWe have studied the peculiar environment around a ULX in NGC 4559 (with Lx ≈ 2 x 1040 erg s–1 and MBH ≳ 50M⊙). The X-ray source is located near the rim of a young (age < 30 Myr), large (diameter ≈ 700 pc) ring-like star forming complex possibly triggered by the impact of a dwarf satellite galaxy through the gas-rich outer disk of NGC 4559. We speculate that galaxy interactions (including the infall of high-velocity clouds and satellites on a galactic disk) and low-metallicity environments offer favourable conditions for the formation of compact remnants more massive than “standard” X-ray binaries, and accreting from a massive Roche-lobe filling companion.

Le sorgenti ultraluminose in banda X (ULX) sono binarie X extragalattiche con luminosità maggiore del limite di Eddington per un buco nero (BH) di 10 Msun (L>10^39 erg/s). Si pensa siano alimentate nella maggior parte dei casi da un accrescimento super-Eddington su BH stellari o stelle di neutroni (NS). Solo in pochi casi siamo a conoscenza della natura dell'oggetto compatto, identificata grazie alla rilevazione di pulsazioni, che possono essere emesse solo da una NS. La frazione relativa di BH e NS nelle ULX e i dettagli dell'accrescimento super-Eddington sono ancora sconosciuti. In questa tesi mi sono concentrata sull'analisi della variabilità nelle ULX, analizzando dati in banda X, che è legata ai processi di accrescimento, per cui è utile per ottenere informazioni sulla fisica dell'accrescimento super-Eddington. Ho analizzato la variabilità a lungo termine (tempi scala di giorni) di 24 ULX in galassie a spirale, che abbiamo monitorato con il satellite Swift. La variabilità è significativa nel 71% delle sorgenti e in tutte le ULX variabili ha un'ampiezza >30%. Ho stimato l'ampiezza della variazione con la fractional variability e questo è il primo studio di ULX nel quale questo stimatore è usato sistematicamente su questi tempi scala. Nel 53% delle ULX variabili, la variabilità è guidata dalla banda hard. Nello scenario super-Eddington l'accrescimento avviene in un disco modificato, caratterizzato da avvezione e venti e geometricamente spesso all'interno del raggio di sfericizzazione, dove si raggiunge il limite di Eddington. Lo spettro può essere modellato con 2 componenti termiche: la più fredda è associata alla fotosfera del vento o alla parte esterna del disco e la più calda alla parte interna del disco. La variabilità della banda hard è associata alla componente spettrale più calda. Ho interpretato la variabilità osservata nella banda di energia totale come conseguenza di un tasso di massa di accrescimento variabile. La variabilità addizionale in banda hard può derivare dall'oscuramento delle regioni interne del disco dal vento soft che può essere lungo la nostra linea di vista o fuori da essa durante le diverse osservazioni. La maggior parte delle sorgenti ha uno spettro consistente con un regime di accrescimento ultraluminoso. In NGC925 ULX-3 abbiamo trovato una periodicità nel flusso di circa 4 mesi (Salvaggio et al., 2022), simile ai periodi trovati in altre ULX e probabilmente legato a una modulazione super-orbitale. Ho trovato alcune candidate NS nel campione analizzato e un'attività di flaring in un'altra ULX del campione. Ho osservato transizioni spettrali in 4 sorgenti e stimato un tempo scala di qualche mese per le transizioni. Ho anche studiato la variabilità su tempi scala di anni in un campione di ULX in una galassia ad anello, la Cartwheel: 35% variano significativamente e la percentuale potrebbe essere maggiore data la bassa statistica dei dati analizzati. Nel 40% delle sorgenti ho osservato un comportamento transiente. Ho anche studiato la funzione di luminosità in X (XLF) per vedere se varia tra diverse epoche. Ho trovato che la forma della XLF è costante, nonostante la variabilità nel flusso delle ULX.
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULX) are extragalactic X-ray binaries emitting luminosities in excess of the Eddington limit for a 10 Msun black hole (BH) (L>10^39 erg/s). They are thought to be powered in most cases by super-Eddington accretion onto stellar mass BHs or neutron stars (NS). Just in few cases the nature of the compact object has been identified, through the detection of pulsations, which can be only emitted by a NS. The relative fraction of BHs and NSs in ULX and the details of super-Eddington accretion physiscs are still unknown. In this thesis I focused on the analysis of the variability in ULX, by analysing X-ray data, which is linked to the accretion processes and thus can help to obtain information on super-Eddington accretion physics. I analysed the long-term variability, on days timescales, in a sample of 24 ULX in spiral galaxies, which we monitored with the Swift satellite. The variability is significant in 71% of the sources and in all the variable sources the variability amplitude is larger than 30%. I used the fractional variability to estimate the variability amplitude and this is the first study of ULX in which it is used systematically on such timescales. In 53% of the variable sources the variability is driven by the hard energy band. In a super-Eddington accretion scenario, the accretion happens in a modified disk structure. The disk is characterized by advection and outflows and becomes geometrically thick inside the spherization radius, where the Eddington limit is reached. The spectrum can be modelled with 2 thermal components: the colder one is associated to the photosphere of the wind or the outer disk and the hotter to the inner disk. The variability of the hard band is associated to the hotter spectral component. I interpret the variability in the total band as a consequence of a variable mass accretion rate. The additional variability in the hard band may be caused by obscuration of it by the soft wind component that may be along or out of our line of sight among the observations. Most of the sources have a spectrum consistent with an ultraluminous accretion regime. In NGC925 ULX-3 we also found a periodicity in the flux of about 4 months (Salvaggio et al., 2022), similar to periods found in other ULX and probably linked to a super-orbital periodicity. I found some candidate NS in the sample and the presence of a flaring activity in another ULX. I found spectral state transitions in 4 ULXs and estimated a timescale of months for the transition. I’ve also studied the variability on year timescales in a sample of ULX in a ring galaxy, the Cartwheel: 35% of them vary significantly and this percentage may be larger considering the low statistics of the data. In 40% of the ULX I observed a transient behaviour. I also studied the X-ray luminosity function (XLF) to see if it is variable among different epochs. The XLF is consistent with a constant shape, despite the flux variability of the ULX.