Intermediate-mass black holes (IMBH, virgul10^2-10^5 solar mass) have been longsought after because they are predicted to exist in several importantastrophysical processes and are also leading candidates for gravitational waveemission. The strongest IMBH candidates are hyperluminous off-nuclear X-raysources (HLX) with Lx > 10^{41} erg/s, but very few candidates are found aroundthis limit. We have identified a new HLX candidate with an estimated X-rayluminosity of 10^{43} erg/s at a distance about 2 Gpc. Thus it could be the mostluminous and the most distant IMBH known and provide strong evidence for IMBHexistence. We propose a follow-up observation of the source by XMM-Newton tomonitor possible large spectral/flux change as seen in ESO 243-49 HLX-1
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2014-01-05T11:01:35Z/2014-01-05T21:02:05Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Dr Dacheng Lin, 2015, 'XMM-Newton Monitoring of the Most Luminous Off-Nuclear IMBH Candidate', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-8b494fa
