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A radio nebula surrounding the ultraluminous x-ray source in NGC 5408
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

A radio nebula surrounding the ultraluminous x-ray source in NGC 5408

Cornelia C Lang, Philip Kaaret, Stéphane Corbel and Allison Mercer
The Astrophysical journal, Vol.666(1), pp.79-85
09/01/2007
DOI: 10.1086/519553
url
https://doi.org/10.1086/519553View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

New radio observations of the counterpart of the ultraluminous X-ray source in NGC 5408 show for the first time that the radio emission is resolved with an angular size of 1.5"-2,0". This corresponds to a physical size of 35-46 pc, and rules out interpretation of the radio emission as beamed emission from a relativistic jet. In addition, the radio spectral index of the counterpart is well determined from three frequencies and found to be α = -0.8 ±0.2. The radio emission is likely to be optically thin synchrotron emission from a nebula surrounding the X-ray source. The radio luminosity of the counterpart is 3.8 × 1034 erg s-1 and the minimum energy required to power the nebula is ∼ 1 × 1049 erg. These values are 2 orders of magnitude larger than in any Galactic nebula powered by an accreting compact object. © 2007. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
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