A giant X-ray dust scattering ring discovered with SRG/eROSITA around the black hole transient MAXI J1348-630

Lamer G, Schwope AD, Predehl P, Traulsen I, Wilms J, Freyberg M (2021)


Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Book Volume: 647

Article Number: A7

DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202039757

Abstract

We report the discovery of a giant dust scattering ring around the Black Hole transient MAXI J1348-630 with SRG/eROSITA during its first X-ray all-sky survey. During the discovery observation in February 2020, the ring had an outer diameter of 1.3 deg, growing to 1.6 deg by the time of the second all-sky survey scan in August 2020. This makes the new dust ring by far the largest X-ray scattering ring observed so far. Dust scattering halos, in particular the rings found around transient sources, provide an opportunity to make precise distance measurements towards the original X-ray sources. We combine data from SRG/eROSITA, XMM-Newton, MAXI, and Gaia to measure the geometrical distance of MAXI J1348-630. The Gaia data place the scattering dust at a distance of 2050 pc. Based on the measured time lags and the geometry of the ring we find MAXI J1348-630 at a distance of 3390 pc with a statistical uncertainty of only 1.1% and a systematic uncertainty of 10% caused mainly by the parallax offset of Gaia. This result makes MAXI J1348-630 one of the black hole transients with the most accurately determined distances. The new distance leads to a revised mass estimate for the black hole of 11 ± 2 M⊠. The transition to the soft state during the outburst occurred when the bolometric luminosity of MAXI J1348-630 reached 1.7% of its Eddington luminosity.

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How to cite

APA:

Lamer, G., Schwope, A.D., Predehl, P., Traulsen, I., Wilms, J., & Freyberg, M. (2021). A giant X-ray dust scattering ring discovered with SRG/eROSITA around the black hole transient MAXI J1348-630. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 647. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039757

MLA:

Lamer, G., et al. "A giant X-ray dust scattering ring discovered with SRG/eROSITA around the black hole transient MAXI J1348-630." Astronomy & Astrophysics 647 (2021).

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