Super-Eddington Luminosities from Super-Eddington Accretion: Powering Ultra-Luminous X-ray Sources with Stellar Mass Black Holes

Aristotle Socrates (Princeton ) - 1 May at 12:00 noon

Ultra-Luminous X-ray Sources (ULXs) have recently gained much attention. Due to their large inferred bolometric X-ray luminosities, these extragalactic sources are thought to be powered by accretion onto a new class of blacks i.e., Intermediate Mass Black Holes. Exciting as this possibility may be, we show that ULX behavior can be explained by super-Eddington accretion onto the well-established stellar mass black holes. By using well-tested theoretical arguments, we show that ULX behavior readily fits into the pre-existing phenomenological paradigm of black hole X-ray binary accretion.

The seminar will be held in 544 Campbell Hall.


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