| Dr Tim Roberts (University of Leicester) |
| 30th January 2002 |
| Do X-ray observations of nearby galaxies reveal a new class of black holes? |
| X-ray observations of nearby galaxies have revealed a rare, luminous (L(x) > 10^39 erg/s) class of off-nuclear X-ray sources, now commonly referred to as "ultraluminous X-ray sources" (ULX). A simple Eddington luminosity argument implies that these sources may constitute a previously unobserved class of intermediate-mass black holes. In this seminar I will review recent results on the ULX phenomenon, and present new Chandra X-ray and WHT optical data, with the aim of establishing whether ULX really are consistent with a new class of black holes. |
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