Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Scientific paper
2011-09-15
The Astrophysical Journal 744, 108 (2012)
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
18 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ
Scientific paper
10.1088/0004-637X/744/2/108
We present the first direct measurement of the spatial cross-correlation function of high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) and active OB star-forming complexes in the Milky Way. This result relied on a sample containing 79 hard X-ray selected HMXBs and 458 OB associations. Clustering between the two populations is detected with a significance above 7-sigmas for distances < 1 kpc. Thus, HMXBs closely trace the underlying distribution of the massive star-forming regions that are expected to produce the progenitor stars of HMXBs. The average offset of 0.4+-0.2 kpc between HMXBs and OB associations is consistent with being due to natal kicks at velocities of the order of 100+-50 km/s. The characteristic scale of the correlation function suggests an average kinematical age (since the supernova phase) of ~4 Myr for the HMXB population. Despite being derived from a global view of our Galaxy, these signatures of HMXB evolution are consistent with theoretical expectations as well as observations of individual objects.
Bodaghee Arash
James Berian J.
Rodriguez Jerome
Tomsick John A.
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