An extreme ultraluminous X-ray source X-1 in NGC 5055

Abstract

Aims. We analysed multi-epoch X-ray data of the ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 5055 X-1, with luminosity up to 2.32 × 1040 erg s−1, to constrain the physical parameters of the source. Methods. We performed a timing and spectral analysis of Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. We used spectral models that assume the emission is from an accreting black hole system. We fit the data with a multicolour disk combined with a powerlaw or a thermal Comptonization (NTHCOMP) component and compared those fits with a slim disk model. Results. The light curves of the source do not show significant variability. From the hardness ratios (3–10 keV/0.3–3 keV flux), we infer that the source is not spectrally variable. We found that the photon index is tightly, positively correlated with the unabsorbed 0.3–10 keV flux and the hydrogen column density. Furthermore, the temperature emissivity profile indicates a deviation from the standard sub-Eddington thin disk model. The source shows an inverse correlation between luminosity and inner disk temperature in all fitted models. Conclusions. Our analysis favours the source to be in an ultraluminous soft state. The positive correlations between the photon index and the flux as well as between the photon index and the hydrogen column density may suggest the source is accreting at high Eddington ratios and might indicate the presence of a wind. The inverse luminosity relation with the inner disk temperature for all spectral models may indicate that the emission is geometrically beamed by an optically thick outflow.