MG11 
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Are Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources Intermediate Mass Black Holes? Are Ultraluminous X-Ray Sources Intermediate Mass Black Holes?

Ultraluminous X-ray sources exceed the Eddington luminosity of stellar mass black holes (10 Msolar), which has given rise to the suggestion that they have masses of 1,000-10,000 Msolar, intermediate between stellar mass and supermassive black holes. Such intermediate mass black holes are not naturally produced by stars, so their existence would provide a major theoretical challenge. There are no direct determinations of the mass of the black hole, presumably in a binary system, but there are a variety of independent observations that bear on black hole mass. We review the evidence for and against the intermediate mass black hole suggestion and show that the masses are most likely to be in the stellar mass black hole range.