SFGALHMXB - Star-Forming Galaxies High-Mass X-Ray Binaries Catalog

Overview

Based on a homogeneous set of X-ray, infrared and ultraviolet observations from Chandra, Spitzer, GALEX and 2MASS archives, the authors studied populations of high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) in a sample of 29 nearby star-forming galaxies and their relation with the star formation rate (SFR). In agreement with previous results, the authors find that HMXBs are a good tracer of the recent star formation activity in the host galaxy and their collective luminosity and number scale with the SFR, in particular, L_X ~ 2.6 x 10³⁹ x SFR. However, the scaling relations still bear a rather large dispersion of rms ~ 0.4 dex, which the authors believe is of a physical origin.

This table contains the catalog of 1055 compact X-ray sources detected within the D25 ellipse for galaxies of this sample which the authors used to construct the average X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of HMXBs with substantially improved statistical accuracy and better control of systematic effects than achieved in previous studies. The XLF follows a power law with slope of 1.6 in the log(L_X) ~ 35 - 40 luminosity range with a moderately significant evidence for a break or cut-off at L_X ~ 10⁴⁰ erg/s. As before, the authors did not find any features at the Eddington limit for a neutron star or a stellar mass black hole.

In their paper, the authors discuss the implications of their results for the theory of binary evolution. In particular, they estimate the fraction of compact objects that once during their lifetime experienced an X-ray active phase powered by accretion from a high mass companion and obtain a rather large number, f_X ~ 0.2 x (0.1 Myr/tau_x), where tau_x is the life time of the X-ray active phase. This is about 4 orders of magnitude more frequent than in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). The authors also derive constrains on the mass distribution of the secondary star in HMXBs.

Note that, in their paper, the authors estimate that ~ 300 of the 1055 sources are likely to be background AGNs (cosmic X-ray background or CXB sources) and that the majority (<~ 700) of the remaining ~ 750 sources are young HMXB systems associated with star formation in their host galaxies.

Catalog Bibcode

2012MNRAS.419.2095M

References

X-ray emission from star-forming galaxies. I. High-mass X-ray binaries.
    Mineo S., Gilfanov M., Sunyaev R.
   <Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 419, 2095 (2012)>
   =2012MNRAS.419.2095M

Provenance

This table was created by the HEASARC in March 2012 based on CDS Catalog J/MNRAS/419/2095 file hmxb.dat.

HEASARC Implementation

In the original CDS version of this table the name 'CXO J103232.0+542402' was used both for source number 1 in UGC 5720 located at J2000.0 coordinates of 10 32 32.01, +54 24 02.1 and for source number 2 in UGC 5720 located at J2000.0 coordinates of 10 32 31.84, +54 24 04.2. The HEASARC has renamed source number 2 in UGC 5720 to 'CXO J103231.8+542404' based on its coordinates.

Parameters

Galaxy_Name
The name of the host galaxy. The properties of the galaxies are given in Table 1 of the reference paper and are available in machine readable form at http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/ftp/cats/J_MNRAS/419/2095/ in the file sfgal.dat.

Galaxy_Source_Number
The source number of the X-ray source within the specified galaxy. The sources are numbered in order of increasing radial offset from the galaxy center, i.e., source number 1 is the innermost.

Name
The Chandra X-Ray Observatory position-based source designation (CXO/CXOU JHHMMSS.s-DDMMSS), according to the usual naming conventions, where 'CXOU' is used for "unregistered" sources found by the authors, and 'CXO' is used for sources that were matched with the Chandra Source Catalog (CSC).

RA
The Right Ascension of the X-ray source in the selected equinox. This was given in J2000.0 decimal degrees to a precision of 10^-5 degrees in the original table.

Dec
The Declination of the X-ray source in the selected equinox. This was given in J2000.0 decimal degrees to a precision of 10^-5 degrees in the original table.

LII
The Galactic Longitude of the X-ray source.

BII
The Galactic Latitude of the X-ray source.

Radial_Distance
The radial distance of the X-ray source from the center of the host galaxy, in arcseconds.

Counts
The net number of X-ray source counts after background subtraction calculated as described in Section 3.2 of the reference paper.

Counts_Error
The rms statistical uncertainty in the net number of X-ray source counts calculated as described in Section 3.2 of the reference paper.

Log_Flux
The logarithm of the source X-ray flux, measured in the 0.5 - 8 keV band and as described in Section 3.2 of the reference paper, in erg s^-1 cm^-2.

Log_Lx
The logarithm of the source X-ray luminosity, measured in the 0.5 - 8 keV band and as described in Section 3.2 of the reference paper, in erg s^-1.

Source_Flag
This flag parameter indicates the location of the X-ray source, coded as follows:

    1 = point sources detected in the galactic area dominated by the
        high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) population
    2 = point sources detected in the outer region dominated by CXB sources
    3 = point sources detected in the galactic bulge and assumed to be
        low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs)

Contact Person

Questions regarding the SFGALHMXB database table can be addressed to the HEASARC Help Desk.

Page Author: Browse Software Development Team
Last Modified: Monday, 16-Sep-2024 17:34:49 EDT