A NuSTAR Study of Quasiperiodic Oscillations from the Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in M82

Hamza El Byad; Matteo Bachetti; Silvia Columbu; Giuseppe Rodriguez; Maura Pilia; Matthew J. Middleton; Dominic J. Walton; Murray Brightman; Hannah Earnshaw; Karl Forster; Brian Grefenstette; Felix Fürst; Marianne Heida; Matteo Imbrogno; Eleonora Veronica Lai; Thomas Maccarone

doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aded8a

A NuSTAR Study of Quasiperiodic Oscillations from the Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in M82

Hamza El Byad, Matteo Bachetti, Silvia Columbu, Giuseppe Rodriguez, Maura Pilia, Matthew J. Middleton, Dominic J. Walton, Murray Brightman, Hannah Earnshaw, Karl Forster, Brian Grefenstette, Felix Fürst, Marianne Heida, Matteo Imbrogno, Eleonora Veronica Lai, Thomas Maccarone

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Abstract

The study of quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) in X-ray binaries provides valuable insights into the physics of accretion around compact objects. The M82 galaxy hosts multiple ultraluminous X-ray sources, including two prominent ones—X-1 and X-2—where X-1 is suspected to harbor an intermediate-mass black hole. In this work, we analyze data from 39 NuSTAR observations acquired between 2014 and 2024 to investigate the aperiodic X-ray variability in M82. In particular, we study in detail the evolution of the QPOs from M82 X-1 in the range 20–300 mHz. We do not find additional timing features in the data, besides a frequently present broad noise component at lower frequencies. The QPO behaves similarly to other classes of low-frequency oscillations in accreting compact objects, both black holes and neutron stars.

Original language	English
Article number	202
Number of pages	13
Journal	The Astrophysical Journal
Volume	989
Issue number	2
Early online date	18 Aug 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aded8a
Publication status	Published - 20 Aug 2025

Keywords

Ultraluminous x-ray sources
X-ray astronomy
Accretion
X-ray binary stars
Compact objects
Time domain astronomy

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© 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Final published version, 2.19 MBLicence: CC BY

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El Byad, H., Bachetti, M., Columbu, S., Rodriguez, G., Pilia, M., Middleton, M. J., Walton, D. J., Brightman, M., Earnshaw, H., Forster, K., Grefenstette, B., Fürst, F., Heida, M., Imbrogno, M., Lai, E. V., & Maccarone, T. (2025). A NuSTAR Study of Quasiperiodic Oscillations from the Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in M82. The Astrophysical Journal, 989(2), Article 202. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aded8a

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title = "A NuSTAR Study of Quasiperiodic Oscillations from the Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in M82",

abstract = "The study of quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) in X-ray binaries provides valuable insights into the physics of accretion around compact objects. The M82 galaxy hosts multiple ultraluminous X-ray sources, including two prominent ones—X-1 and X-2—where X-1 is suspected to harbor an intermediate-mass black hole. In this work, we analyze data from 39 NuSTAR observations acquired between 2014 and 2024 to investigate the aperiodic X-ray variability in M82. In particular, we study in detail the evolution of the QPOs from M82 X-1 in the range 20–300 mHz. We do not find additional timing features in the data, besides a frequently present broad noise component at lower frequencies. The QPO behaves similarly to other classes of low-frequency oscillations in accreting compact objects, both black holes and neutron stars.",

keywords = "Ultraluminous x-ray sources, X-ray astronomy, Accretion, X-ray binary stars, Compact objects, Time domain astronomy",

author = "\{El Byad\}, Hamza and Matteo Bachetti and Silvia Columbu and Giuseppe Rodriguez and Maura Pilia and Middleton, \{Matthew J.\} and Walton, \{Dominic J.\} and Murray Brightman and Hannah Earnshaw and Karl Forster and Brian Grefenstette and Felix F{\"u}rst and Marianne Heida and Matteo Imbrogno and Lai, \{Eleonora Veronica\} and Thomas Maccarone",

note = "{\textcopyright} 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",

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El Byad, H, Bachetti, M, Columbu, S, Rodriguez, G, Pilia, M, Middleton, MJ, Walton, DJ, Brightman, M, Earnshaw, H, Forster, K, Grefenstette, B, Fürst, F, Heida, M, Imbrogno, M, Lai, EV & Maccarone, T 2025, 'A NuSTAR Study of Quasiperiodic Oscillations from the Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in M82', The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 989, no. 2, 202. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aded8a

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T1 - A NuSTAR Study of Quasiperiodic Oscillations from the Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in M82

AU - El Byad, Hamza

AU - Bachetti, Matteo

AU - Columbu, Silvia

AU - Rodriguez, Giuseppe

AU - Pilia, Maura

AU - Middleton, Matthew J.

AU - Walton, Dominic J.

AU - Brightman, Murray

AU - Earnshaw, Hannah

AU - Forster, Karl

AU - Grefenstette, Brian

AU - Fürst, Felix

AU - Heida, Marianne

AU - Imbrogno, Matteo

AU - Lai, Eleonora Veronica

AU - Maccarone, Thomas

N1 - © 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

PY - 2025/8/20

Y1 - 2025/8/20

N2 - The study of quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) in X-ray binaries provides valuable insights into the physics of accretion around compact objects. The M82 galaxy hosts multiple ultraluminous X-ray sources, including two prominent ones—X-1 and X-2—where X-1 is suspected to harbor an intermediate-mass black hole. In this work, we analyze data from 39 NuSTAR observations acquired between 2014 and 2024 to investigate the aperiodic X-ray variability in M82. In particular, we study in detail the evolution of the QPOs from M82 X-1 in the range 20–300 mHz. We do not find additional timing features in the data, besides a frequently present broad noise component at lower frequencies. The QPO behaves similarly to other classes of low-frequency oscillations in accreting compact objects, both black holes and neutron stars.

AB - The study of quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) in X-ray binaries provides valuable insights into the physics of accretion around compact objects. The M82 galaxy hosts multiple ultraluminous X-ray sources, including two prominent ones—X-1 and X-2—where X-1 is suspected to harbor an intermediate-mass black hole. In this work, we analyze data from 39 NuSTAR observations acquired between 2014 and 2024 to investigate the aperiodic X-ray variability in M82. In particular, we study in detail the evolution of the QPOs from M82 X-1 in the range 20–300 mHz. We do not find additional timing features in the data, besides a frequently present broad noise component at lower frequencies. The QPO behaves similarly to other classes of low-frequency oscillations in accreting compact objects, both black holes and neutron stars.

KW - Ultraluminous x-ray sources

KW - X-ray astronomy

KW - Accretion

KW - X-ray binary stars

KW - Compact objects

KW - Time domain astronomy

U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/aded8a

DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/aded8a

M3 - Article

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 989

JO - The Astrophysical Journal

JF - The Astrophysical Journal

IS - 2

M1 - 202

ER -

A NuSTAR Study of Quasiperiodic Oscillations from the Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources in M82

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