Eccentricity of HLX-1
  I compare the outer radius of the accretion disc in the intermediate-mass
black hole candidate HLX-1 as estimated from the UV/optical continuum, with the
values estimated from its outburst decline timescales. I fit the Swift 2010
outburst decline lightcurve with an exponential decay, a knee and a linear
decay. I find that the disk has an outer radius 10^{12} cm <~ R_{out} <~
10^{13} cm, only an order of magnitude larger than typical accretion discs in
the high/soft state of Galactic black holes. By contrast, the semimajor axis is
~ a few times 10^{14} cm. This discrepancy can be explained with a highly
eccentric orbit. I estimate the tidal truncation radius and circularization
radius around the black hole at periastron, and impose that they are similar to
or smaller than the outer disk radius. I obtain that e >~ 0.95, that the radius
of the donor star is <~ a few solar radii, and that the donor star is not at
risk of tidal disruption. If the companion star fills its Roche lobe and
impulsively transfers mass only around periastron, secular evolution of the
orbit is expected to increase eccentricity and semimajor axis even further. I
speculate that such extremely eccentric systems may have the same origin as the
S stars in the Galactic centre.
