Schedule Jan 17, 2009
Optical Spectroscopy and the Nature of the Black Hole X-Ray Source in the NGC 4472 Globular Cluster RZ2109
Matthew Steele (Michigan State Univ.)

We present medium resolution optical spectroscopy of RZ2109, a black hole hosting globular cluster located in NGC 4472, from William Hershel Telescope (WHT) ISIS. Our observations confirm the presence of very broad [O III] emission line features at lambda 4959 and lambda 5007 previously detected in our lower resolution spectra of RZ2109. In this work we analyze both the emission line system and the stellar component of the R sim 2600 WHT spectrum. We fit [O III]lamda 5007 line profile using simple geometric models to place constraints on the originating emission line system structure, as well as use numerical photoionization simulations to model to parametrize the gas. The stellar emission of the host cluster is examined with age and metallicity estimates produced using P'{e}gase/ELODIE 3.1 synthetic stellar population models. We discuss the implications of this analysis for the nature of the accreting black hole system and the origin of the observed broad emission in a globular cluster environment.

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