Integral field spectroscopy of the ultraluminous X-ray source Holmberg II X-1

Abstract

We present optical integral field observations of the H II region containing the ultraluminous X-ray source Holmberg II X-1. We confirm the existence of an X-ray ionized nebula as the counterpart of the source owing to the detec- tion of an extended He II λ4686 region (21 × 47 pc) at the Chandra ACIS-S position. An extended blue object with a size of 11 × 14 pc is coincident with the X-ray/He II λ4686 region, which could indicate that it is either a young stellar complex or a cluster. We have derived an X-ray to optical luminosity ratio of LX/LB ≥ 170, and presumable it is LX/LB ∼ 300−400 using the recent HST ACS data. We find a complex velocity dispersion at the position of the ULX. In addition, there is a radial velocity variation in the X-ray ionized region found in the He II emission of ±50 km s −1 on spatial scales of 2-3 �� . We believe that the pu- tative black hole not only ionizes the surrounding HII gas, but also perturbs it dynamically (via jets or the accretion disk wind). The spatial analysis of the public Chandra ACIS-S data reveals a point-like X-ray source and gives marginal indication of an extended component (� 15% of the total flux). The XMM-Newton EPIC-PN spectrum of HoII X-1 is best fitted with an absorbed power law in addition to either a thermal thick plasma or a thermal thin plasma or a multi-colour disk black body (MCD). In all cases, the thermal component shows a relatively low temperature (kT ∼ 0.14−0.22 keV). Finally we discuss the optical/X-ray properties of HoII X-1 with regards to the possible nature of the source. The existence of an X-ray ionized nebula coincident with the ULX and the soft X-ray component with a cool accretion disk favours the interpretation as an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH). However, the complex velocity behaviour at the position of the ULX indicates a dynamical influence of the black hole on the local HII gas.