Evidence for a high energy curvature in the XMM-Newton spectrum of the ULX NGC1313 X-1

Abstract

ASCA X-ray spectra of many ULXs were described in terms of optically thick emission from hot (kT ~1-2keV) accretion disks, while recent XMM-Newton and Chandra observations have revealed a cool (kT ~0.2keV), soft X-ray excess emission from a number of them. Here we utilize improved calibration and high signal-to-noise XMM-Newton spectra of NGC1313 X-1 to present evidence for a cool (~0.2keV) soft excess and a curved or a cutoff power-law (Gamma ~1-1.5, E_cutoff ~3-8keV). The high energy curvature may also be described by a hot (~1-2.5keV) multicolor disk blackbody. The soft excess emission is unlikely to arise from a cool disk as its blackbody temperature is similar in three XMM-Newton observations, despite a change in the observed flux by a factor of about two. Thus, previous estimates of the black hole mass of 1000Msun for NGC1313 X-1 based on the temperature of the soft excess emission is unlikely to be correct. The power-law cutoff energy is found to decrease from ~8keV to \~3keV when the ULX brightened by a factor of about two. The unusual spectral properties of NGC1313 X-1 are difficult to understand in the framework of the disk/corona models generally adopted for the black hole binaries or active galactic nuclei and may require to invoke super-critical accretion rates.