Open AccessConstraining the Nature of the Galactic Center X-Ray Source Population
Author(s) -
S. Laycock,
J. E. Grindlay,
M. van den Berg,
P. Zhao,
Jaesub Hong,
X. Koenig,
E. M. Schlegel,
S. E. Persson
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
the astrophysical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376
H-Index - 489
eISSN - 1538-4357
pISSN - 0004-637X
DOI - 10.1086/498821
Subject(s) - physics , astrophysics , neutron star , galactic center , accretion (finance) , luminosity , stars , population , black hole (networking) , astronomy , white dwarf , galaxy , computer network , routing protocol , demography , routing (electronic design automation) , sociology , computer science , link state routing protocol
We searched for infrared counterparts to the cluster of X-ray point sourcesdiscovered by Chandra in the Galactic Center Region (GCR). While the sourcescould be white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes accreting from stellarcompanions, their X-ray properties are consistent with magnetic CataclysmicVariables, or High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXB) at low accretion-rates. A directway to decide between these possibilities and hence between alternativeformation scenarios is to measure or constrain the luminosity distribution ofthe companions. Using infrared (J, H, K, Br-gamma) imaging, we searched forcounterparts corresponding to typical HMXB secondaries: spectral type B0V withK<15 at the GCR. We found no significant excess of bright stars in Chandraerror circles, indicating that HMXBs are not the dominant X-ray sourcepopulation, and account for fewer than 10% of the hardest X-ray sources.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted in ApJ Letters for publicatio
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