Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Volume 712, Issue 1, Pages L1-L4Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/712/1/L1
Keywords
galaxies: individual (NGC 1399); galaxies: star clusters: general; globular clusters: general; X-rays: binaries; X-rays: galaxies: clusters
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Funding
- NASA [NNG05GE48G]
- Chandra [GO8-9087X]
- STFC [ST/G001588/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Science and Technology Facilities Council [ST/G001588/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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We report [O III] lambda 5007 and [N II] lambda 6583 emission from a globular cluster harboring the ultraluminous X-ray source CXOJ033831.8-352604 in the Fornax elliptical galaxy NGC 1399. No accompanying Balmer emission lines are present in the spectrum. One possibility is that the forbidden lines emanate from X-ray-illuminated debris of a star that has been tidally disrupted by an intermediate-mass black hole, with this debris also feeding the black hole leading to the observed X-ray emission. The line strengths indicate that the minimum size of the emitting region is similar to 10(15) cm, and if the 70 km s(-1) half-widths of the emission lines represent rotation around the black hole, a minimum black hole mass of 1000 M-circle dot is implied. The non-detection of H alpha and H beta emission lines suggests a white dwarf star was disrupted, although the presence of strong nitrogen emission is somewhat of a mystery.
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