Hubble Space Telescope
XMM-Newton Joint Program Information

XMM-Newton Cycle 14/HST Cycle 23
Joint Program Overview

By agreement with the HST Project, the XMM-Newton Project may award up to 30 orbits of HST observing time each observing cycle. Similarly, the HST Project may award up to 150 ks of XMM-Newton time. The time will be awarded only for highly ranked proposals that require the use of both observatories and shall not apply to usage of archival data. The only criterion above and beyond the usual review criteria is that both sets of data are required to meet the primary science goals. Proposers should have taken special care in justifying both the scientific and technical reasons for requesting observing time on both missions. For these solicitations, no HST time will be allocated without the need for XMM-Newton time on the same target to complete the proposed investigation.

For XMM-Newton's Cycle 14 and HST's Cycle 23, the XMM-Newton Observing Time Allocation Committee (OTAC) met in the fall of 2014 and reviewed their proposals. The following four joint XMM-Newton proposals (listed below) have been approved for execution in HST Cycle 23. These observations will be processed during the normal HST cycle ingest after the HST Telescope Allocation Committee (TAC) meets in June of 2015 with results released to the community by late-June.

Tracking Down the Ionized Outflow of NGC 7469

Prof. Ehud Behar
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology University
Program ID: 14054

Using a multiwavelength campaign on NGC 7469, led by XMM-Newton, HST, Swift, NuSTAR, and optical, we propose to achieve new physical insights into the enigmatic AGN winds, by obtaining the deepest ever RGS spectrum of this highly- accreting source. It will allow us to determine the accurate ionisation and chemical structure of the wind. Using EPIC and RGS, we will measure the response of the outflow to continuum variations, which combined with HST/COS data will unambiguously determine the location, and abundances of the outflow components. Our team pioneered this approach, and applied it successfully (14 refereed papers) to Mrk 509 that featured only a multi-year response. The unique properties of NGC 7469 make it the ideal candidate to respond on shorter, better-monitored time scales.

Changes in the X-ray irradiation of an ultraluminous X-ray source

Dr. Fabien Grise
Observatoire de Strasbourg
Program ID: 14057

Optical emission observed from ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) comes from the irradiated disk and the donor star. Disentangling the two components has always been an unsolved problem. We have discovered that the ULX NGC 1313 X-2 switches between two distinct X-ray spectral/luminosity states on long timescales, ~ 6--10 weeks.
This makes it an ideal laboratory to study the effects of variable X-ray irradiation on the disk and donor star. We propose a multiband study of NGC 1313 X-2 from near-IR to X-rays, with XMM, HST and Swift. We will measure the contribution of X-ray reprocessing to the optical emission and determine whether irradiation correlates with disk winds.

State transitions of the ULX in M83

Dr. Roberto Soria
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
Program ID: 14059

We study a transient ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in M83, which went into outburst in 2010 and is now evolving towards the luminosity range of ordinary stellar-mass black holes. We propose an XMM-Newton and HST study: a) to model the spectral state evolution during the decline, and discover how the ULX regime is linked to the sub-Eddington accretion states of Galactic BHs; b) to determine or constrain the mass of the BH, from X-ray spectroscopy; c) to quantify the properties of the irradiated disk, and its response to variable X-ray illumination.

A huge ULX bubble in NGC 5585

Dr. Roberto Soria
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
Program ID: 14060

Accreting black holes release their power through radiation and/or jets. We have discovered an ultraluminous X-ray source (ULX) in the nearby galaxy NGC 5585, surrounded by a large (diameter ~300 pc) ionized nebula. We propose a joint XMM- Newton and HST study of this source. With XMM-Newton, we will determine the radiative power of the ULX, its spectral and time variability properties, and constrain its mass. With HST, we will image the nebula, determine whether it is a jet-inflated ULX bubble, measure its kinetic power and source age, and search for an optical counterpart to the black hole.

The programs approved from the previous XMM Cycle 11, 12 and 13 TACs can be found at the following links:
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/proposing/docs/Joint-XMM-HST-Cycle20
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/proposing/docs/Joint-XMM-HST-Cycle21.
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/proposing/docs/Joint-XMM-HST-Cycle22.