Hintze Centre for Astrophysical Surveys

Abstract:

We report a detailed spectral analysis of the population of low-massX-ray binaries (LMXBs) detected in the elliptical galaxy NGC 4278 with Chandra. Seven luminous sources were studied individually, four in globular clusters (GCs) and three in the stellar field. The range of (0.3-8 keV) LX for these sources is ∼(3-8) × 10³⁸ erg s^-1, suggesting that they may be black hole binaries (BHBs). Fitting the data with either single thermal accretion disk or power-law (PO) models results in best-fit temperatures of ∼0.7-1.7 keV and Λ ∼ 1.2-2.0, consistent with those measured in Galactic BHBs. Comparison of our results with simulations allows us to discriminate between disk and power-lawdominated emission, pointing to spectral/luminosity variability, reminiscent of Galactic BHBs. The BH masses derived from a comparison of our spectral results with the LX ≥ T in ⁴ relation of Galactic BHBs are in the 5-15M⊙ range, as observed in the Milky Way. The analysis of joint spectra of sources selected in three luminosity ranges (LX ≥ 1.5 × 10³⁸ erg s^-1, 6 × 10³⁷ erg s^-1 ≤ LX < 1.5 × 10³⁸ erg s^-1, and LX < 6 × 10³⁷ erg s^-1) suggests that while the high-luminosity sources have prominent thermal disk emission components, power-law components are likely to be important in the mid- and low-luminosity spectra. Comparing low-luminosity average spectra, we find a relatively larger NH in the GC spectrum; we speculate that this may point to either a metallicity effect or to intrinsic physical differences between field and GC accreting binaries. Analysis of average sample properties uncovers a previously unreported L X-RG correlation (where RG is the galactocentric radius) in the GC-LMXB sample, implying richer LMXB populations in more central GCs. No such trend is seen in the field LMXB sample. We can exclude that the GC LX-RG correlation is the by-product of a luminosity effect and suggest that it may be related to the presence of more compact GCs at smaller galactocentric radii, fostering more efficient binary formation. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

From a deep multi-epoch Chandra observation of the elliptical galaxy NGC 3379 we report the spectral properties of eight luminous LMXBs (LX < 1.2 × 10³⁸ erg s^-1). We also present a set of spectral simulations, produced to aid the interpretation of low-count single-component spectral modeling. These simulations demonstrate that it is possible to infer the spectral states of X-ray binaries from these simple models and thereby constrain the properties of the source. Of the eight LMXBs studied, three reside within globular clusters (GCs) and one is a confirmed field source. Due to the nature of the luminosity cut, all sources are either neutron star (NS) binaries emitting at or above the Eddington luminosity or black hole (BH) binaries. The spectra from these sources are well described by single-component models, with parameters consistent with Galactic LMXB observations, where hard-state sources have a range in photon index of 1.5-1.9 and thermally dominant (TD) sources have inner-disk temperatures between ∼0.7 and 1.55 keV. The large variability observed in the brightest GC source (LX< 4×10³⁸ erg s^-1) suggests the presence of a BH binary. At its most luminous this source is observed in a TD state with kTin = 1.5 keV, consistent with a BH mass of ∼4M ⊙. This observation provides further evidence that GCs are able to retain such massive binaries. We also observed a source transitioning from a bright state (LX ∼ 1 × 10³⁹ erg s^-1), with prominent thermal and non-thermal components, to a less luminous hard state (LX = 3.8 × 10³⁸ erg s^-1, Λ = 1.85). In its high flux emission, this source exhibits a cool-disk component of ∼0.14 keV, similar to spectra observed in some ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). Such a similarity indicates a possible link between "normal" stellar-mass BHs in a high accretion state and ULXs. © 2010. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

The mass assembly of galaxies leaves various imprints on their surroundings, such as shells, streams and tidal tails. The frequency and properties of these fine structures depend on the mechanism driving the mass assembly: e.g. a monolithic collapse, rapid cold-gas accretion followed by violent disk instabilities, minor mergers or major dry/wet mergers. Therefore, by studying the outskirts of galaxies, one can learn about their main formation mechanism. I present here our on-going work to characterize the outskirts of Early-Type Galaxies (ETGs), which are powerful probes at low redshift of the hierarchical mass assembly of galaxies. This work relies on ultra-deep optical images obtained at CFHT with the wide-field of view MegaCam camera of field and cluster ETGs obtained as part of the ATLAS3D and NGVS projects. State of the art numerical simulations are used to interpret the data. The images reveal a wealth of unknown faint structures at levels as faint as 29 mag arcsec-2 in the g-band. Initial results for two galaxies are presented here. © Copyright International Astronomical Union 2011.

Abstract:

LOFT (Large area Observatory For x-ray Timing) is an innovative mission submitted in response to the Cosmic Vision "Call for a Medium-size mission opportunity for a launch in 2022" recently issued by ESA. LOFT is an ideal candidate for the next generation of (extremely) large experiments for X-ray timing dedicated to the study of the physics of compact objects and to the understanding of the behavior of matter in strong gravitational fields. Recent developments in the field of large area monolithic silicon detectors allowed us to reach an effective area ∼12 m² (15 m² goal), more than a order of magnitude larger that RXTE/PCA, in the energy range 2-30 keV (1-40 keV goal). This Large Area Detector (LAD) will have both high timing resolution (<10 μs, 5 μs goal) and good spectral capabilities (<260 eV, <180 eV goal). A Wide Field Monitor (WFM), sensitive in the ∼1-50 keV energy range, will observe simultaneously more than a quarter of the sky in order to both discover and localize transient events and study their long term evolution. © Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Licence.