Search Publications
A luminous X-ray outburst from an intermediate-mass black hole in an off-centre star cluster
Romanowsky, Aaron J.; Brodie, Jean P.; Remillard, Ronald A. +13 more
A unique signature for the presence of massive black holes in very dense stellar regions is occasional giant-amplitude outbursts of multi-wavelength radiation from tidal disruption and subsequent accretion of stars that make a close approach to the black holes1. Previous strong tidal disruption event (TDE) candidates were all associated…
Magnetic field strength of a neutron-star-powered ultraluminous X-ray source
Harrison, F. A.; Stern, D.; Fabian, A. C. +7 more
Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are bright X-ray sources in nearby galaxies not associated with the central supermassive black hole. Their luminosities imply they are powered by either an extreme accretion rate onto a compact stellar remnant, or an intermediate mass ( 100-105M⊙) black hole1. Recently detected co…
The unexpectedly large dust and gas content of quiescent galaxies at z > 1.4
Finoguenov, A.; Daddi, E.; Béthermin, M. +13 more
Early-type galaxies (ETGs) contain most of the stars present in the local Universe and, above a stellar mass content of 5 × 1010 solar masses, vastly outnumber spiral galaxies such as the Milky Way. These massive spheroidal galaxies have, in the present day, very little gas or dust in proportion to their mass1, and their stel…
Non-thermal X-rays from colliding wind shock acceleration in the massive binary Eta Carinae
Hamaguchi, Kenji; Corcoran, Michael F.; Russell, Christopher M. P. +9 more
Cosmic-ray acceleration has been a long-standing mystery1,2 and, despite more than a century of study, we still do not have a complete census of acceleration mechanisms. The collision of strong stellar winds in massive binary systems creates powerful shocks that have been expected to produce high-energy cosmic rays through Fermi acceler…
The split in the ancient cold front in the Perseus cluster
Fabian, Andy; Sanders, Jeremy; ZuHone, John +1 more
Sloshing cold fronts in clusters, produced as the dense cluster core moves around in the cluster potential in response to in-falling subgroups, provide a powerful probe of the physics of the intracluster medium and the magnetic fields permeating it1,2. These sharp discontinuities in density and temperature rise gradually outwards with a…
Gravitational lensing detection of an extremely dense environment around a galaxy cluster
Streblyanska, Alina; Izzo, Luca; Sereno, Mauro +8 more
Galaxy clusters form at the highest-density nodes of the cosmic web1,2. The clustering of dark matter halos hosting these galaxy clusters is enhanced relative to the general mass distribution, with the matter density beyond the virial region being strongly correlated to the halo mass (halo bias)3. Halo properties other than m…