A Deep X-ray Survey of the globular cluster Omega Centauri

作者:Henleywillis Simon*; Cool Adrienne M*; Haggard Daryl; Heinke Craig; Callanan Paul; Zhao Yue
来源:Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2018, 479(2): 2834-2852.
DOI:10.1093/mnras/sty675

摘要

We identify 233 X-ray sources, of which 95 are new, in a 222 ks exposure of Omega Centauri with the Chandra X-ray Observatory's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer detector. The limiting unabsorbed flux in the core is f(X)(0.5-6.0 keV) similar or equal to 3 x 10(-16) erg s(-1) cm(-2) (L-x similar or equal to 1 x 10(30) erg s(-1) at 5.2 kpc). We estimate that similar to 60 +/- 20 of these are cluster members, of which similar to 30 lie within the core (r(c) = 155 arcsec), and another similar to 30 between 1-2 core radii. We identify four new optical counterparts, for a total of 45 likely identifications. Probable cluster members include 18 cataclysmic variables (CVs) and CV candidates, one quiescent low-mass X-ray binary, four variable stars, and five stars that are either associated with. Cen's anomalous red giant branch or are sub-subgiants. We estimate that the cluster contains 40 +/- 10 CVs with L-x > 10(31) erg s(-1), confirming that CVs are underabundant in. Cen relative to the field. Intrinsic absorption is required to fit X-ray spectra of six of the nine brightest CVs, suggesting magnetic CVs, or high-inclination systems. Though no radio millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are currently known in. Cen, more than 30 unidentified sources have luminosities and X-ray colours like those of MSPs found in other globular clusters; these could be responsible for the Fermi-detected gamma-ray emission from the cluster. Finally, we identify a CH star as the counterpart to the second brightest X-ray source in the cluster and argue that it is a symbiotic star. This is the first such giant/white dwarf binary to be identified in a globular cluster.

  • 出版日期2018-9
  • 单位McGill