X-RAY AND RADIO VARIABILITY OF M31*, THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY NUCLEAR SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE
Author(s)
Garcia, M. R.; Hextall, Richard; Galache, Jose; Melia, Fulvio; Murray, Stephen S.; Primini, F. A.; Sjouwerman, Loránt O.; Williams, Ben; Baganoff, Frederick K; ... Show more Show less
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We confirm our earlier tentative detection of M31* in X-rays and measure its light curve and spectrum. Observations in 2004-2005 find M31* rather quiescent in the X-ray and radio. However, X-ray observations in 2006-2007 show M31* to be highly variable at times. A separate variable X-ray source is found near P1, the brighter of the two optical nuclei. The apparent angular Bondi radius of M31* is the largest of any black hole and large enough to be well resolved with Chandra. The diffuse emission within this Bondi radius is found to have an X-ray temperature ~0.3 keV and density 0.1 cm[superscript –3], indistinguishable from the hot gas in the surrounding regions of the bulge given the statistics allowed by the current observations. The X-ray source at the location of M31* is consistent with a point source and a power-law spectrum with energy slope 0.9 ± 0.2. Our identification of this X-ray source with M31* is based solely on positional coincidence.
Date issued
2010-02Department
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space ResearchJournal
Astrophysical Journal
Publisher
Institute of Physics/American Astronomical Society
Citation
Garcia, Michael R., Richard Hextall, Frederick K. Baganoff, Jose Galache, Fulvio Melia, Stephen S. Murray, F. A. Primini, Loránt O. Sjouwerman, and Ben Williams. “X-RAY AND RADIO VARIABILITY OF M31*, THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY NUCLEAR SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE.” The Astrophysical Journal 710, no. 1 (January 21, 2010): 755–763. © 2009 American Astronomical Society.
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0004-637X
1538-4357