Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Oct 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001chfe.sympe...6i&link_type=abstract
Chandra Fellows Symposium 2001, held 15 October, 2001 at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, meeting abstract.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
The sub-arcsecond spatial resolution of the Chandra X-ray Observatory has paved the way for the study of the X-ray binary population of nearby galaxies, which in early-type systems are primarily low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). Here, I present some initial results on the spectral characteristics and luminosity distribution function of the LMXBs in a sample of early-type galaxies. For the galaxies studied so far, there is either a break or cut-off in the luminosity function at a luminosity of ~2e38 ergs/s, which is approximately the Eddington luminosity of a 1.4 solar mass accreting neutron star. If this break is a universal feature of galaxies, it might be used as a distance estimator. At lower X-ray luminosities, the LMXB population is remarkably similar from galaxy to galaxy, and I discuss a method of using this similarity to further constrain the distances to these galaxies. Finally, I discuss the implications of the tendency of LMXBs to be preferentially located within globular clusters, and also the importance of hot X-ray-emitting gas in these galaxies.
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