摘要
The Swift/XRT light curve of the ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 5408 X-1 was re-analyzed with two new numerical approaches, the Weighted Wavelet Ztransform and CLEANest, and the results are different from previous studies. Both techniques detected a prominent periodicity with a time scale of 115.5 ± 1.5 days, in excellent agreement with the detection of the same periodicity first reported by Strohmayer . Monte Carlo simulations were employed to test the statisitical confidence of the 115.5-day periodicity, yielding a statistical significance of 〉 99.98% （or 〉 3.8σ）. The robust detection of the 115.5-day quasi-periodic oscillations, if they are due to the orbital motion of the binary, would infer a mass of a few thousand M⊙ for the central black hole, implying there is an intermediate-mass black hole in NGC 5408 X-1.
The Swift/XRT light curve of the ultraluminous X-ray source NGC 5408 X-1 was re-analyzed with two new numerical approaches, the Weighted Wavelet Ztransform and CLEANest, and the results are different from previous studies. Both techniques detected a prominent periodicity with a time scale of 115.5 ± 1.5 days, in excellent agreement with the detection of the same periodicity first reported by Strohmayer . Monte Carlo simulations were employed to test the statisitical confidence of the 115.5-day periodicity, yielding a statistical significance of 〉 99.98% （or 〉 3.8σ）. The robust detection of the 115.5-day quasi-periodic oscillations, if they are due to the orbital motion of the binary, would infer a mass of a few thousand M⊙ for the central black hole, implying there is an intermediate-mass black hole in NGC 5408 X-1.
基金
partly supported by the National Basic Research Program of China(973 Program, Grant Nos. 2009CB24900 and 2013CB837901)
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61261017)
the Strategic Priority Research Program of the CAS(XDA04060700)
the China-Hungary Exchange Program of the CAS
the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA K104529)
the Science & Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (06DZ22101)
