Simulating the Early Evolution of the Hard X-Ray Properties of a Young Stellar Population

Details Simulating the Early Evolution of the Hard X-Ray Properties of a Young Stellar Population Simulating the Early Evolution of the Hard X-Ray Properties of a Young Stellar Population

2003-08-05

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0308077v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal (40 pages, including 13 figures)

Scientific paper

We present an X-ray binary population synthesis model, and use it to simulate the evolution of X-ray binaries formed in a burst of star formation of duration 20 Myr and star-formation rate 10 M_sun/yr. Our goal is to explain the hard (2-10 keV) X-ray properties of populations of extragalactic X-ray binaries recently observed by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, especially those associated with recent or ongoing episodes of vigorous star formation. Our simulated X-ray binary population reaches a maximum 2-10 keV luminosity of ~4e40 erg/s after approximately 20 Myr. The X-ray luminous phase is sustained for a period of several hundreds of Myr by succeeding populations of systems with lighter secondary stars, i.e., it persists long after the star-formation episode has ended. These results are insensitive to the poorly-constrained values of the initial mass function and the average mass ratio between accreting and donor stars. The computed peak X-ray luminosity is consistent with observationally-derived correlations between the star-formation rate and the observed hard X-ray luminosity. Model cumulative luminosity functions at the earliest times have power-law indices in agreement with those derived from observations of actively star-forming galaxies. The model cumulative luminosity functions become increasingly steeper with time as the most luminous systems die off, which offers an explanation for the difference in the slopes of observed cumulative luminosity functions of young and old stellar populations.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Simulating the Early Evolution of the Hard X-Ray Properties of a Young Stellar Population does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Simulating the Early Evolution of the Hard X-Ray Properties of a Young Stellar Population, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Simulating the Early Evolution of the Hard X-Ray Properties of a Young Stellar Population will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-572237