Suzaku Observation of Two Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in NGC 1313

Abstract

Abstract Two ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in the nearby Sb galaxy NGC 1313, named X-1 and X-2, were observed with Suzaku on 2005 September 15. During the observation for a net exposure of 28 ks (but over a gross time span of 90 ks), both objects varied in intensity by about 50%. The 0.4–10 keV X-ray luminosities of X-1 and X-2 were measured as $2.5 \times 10^{40} \,\mathrm{erg} \,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ and $5.8 \times 10^{39} \,\mathrm{erg} \,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$, respectively, with the former exhibiting the highest ever reported for this ULX. The spectrum of X-1 can be explained by the sum of a strong and variable power-law component with a high-energy cutoff, and a stable multicolor blackbody with an innermost disk temperature of $\sim 0.2 \,\mathrm{keV}$. These results suggest that X-1 was in a “very high” state, where disk emission is strongly Comptonized. The absorber within NGC 1313 toward X-1 is suggested to have a subsolar oxygen abundance. The spectrum of X-2 is best represented, in its fainter phase, by a multicolor blackbody model with an innermost disk temperature of 1.2–1.3 keV, and becomes flatter as the source becomes brighter. Hence, X-2 is interpreted to be in a slim-disk state. These results suggest that the two ULXs have black hole masses of some dozens to a few hundred of solar masses.