Cutoff in the hard X-ray spectra of the ultraluminous X-ray sources HoIX X-1 and M82 X-1

Abstract

Using data from the XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL observatories, we have detected a cutoff at energies above 10 keV in the X-ray spectra of the ultraluminous X-ray sources HoIX X-1 and M82 X-1. The spectra obtained can be described by a model of Comptonization of radiation in a gas cloud of moderate temperature (kT~2-3 keV) and high optical depth (tau~15-25). Such conditions can be fulfilled during supercritical accretion of matter onto a stellar-mass black hole accompanied by a strong gas outflow. The results of this work confirm the existence of a spectral state specific to ultraluminous X-ray sources, which is unlike any of the known spectral states in normal X-ray binaries.