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The evolution of a jet ejection of the ultraluminous X-ray source Holmberg II X-1
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

The evolution of a jet ejection of the ultraluminous X-ray source Holmberg II X-1

D Cseh, J. C. A Miller-Jones, P. G Jonker, F Grise, Z Paragi, Stéphane Corbel, H Falcke, S Frey, P Kaaret and E Koerding
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol.452(1), pp.24-31
2015
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stv1308
url
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv1308View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

We present quasi-simultaneous, multi-epoch radio and X-ray measurements of Holmberg II X-1 using the European VLBI Network (EVN), the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and the Chandra and Swift X-ray telescopes. The X-ray data show apparently hard spectra with steady X-ray luminosities 4 months apart from each other. In the high-resolution EVN radio observations, we have detected an extended milli-arcsecond scale source with unboosted radio emission. The source emits non-thermal, likely optically thin synchrotron emission and its morphology is consistent with a jet ejection. The 9-GHz VLA data show an arcsecond-scale triple structure of Holmberg II X-1 similar to that seen at lower frequencies. However, we find that the central ejection has faded by at least a factor of 7.3 over 1.5 years. We estimate the dynamical age of the ejection to be higher than 2.1 years. We show that such a rapid cooling can be explained with simple adiabatic expansion losses. These properties of Holmberg II X-1 imply that ULX radio bubbles may be inflated by ejecta instead of self-absorbed compact jets.
 Astrophysics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Sciences of the Universe Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

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