Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000apj...528..306w&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 528, Issue 1, pp. 306-309.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
2
Ism: Dust, Extinction, Radiative Transfer, Scattering, X-Rays: Ism
Scientific paper
We have calculated on a small angular scale the distribution of X-rays (e.g., as originating from a point source) scattered by interstellar dust. In addition to the well-known, large-diameter (i.e., hundreds of arcseconds) X-ray halo due to dust distributed along the line of sight to the source, we show that material clumped very close to the source gives rise to a bright, small-diameter (subarcsecond) X-ray halo. The diameter of this inner ``microhalo'' decreases, and the relative surface brightness increases, as the relative concentration of dust very near the source increases. For example, we expect that the 1 keV X-ray microhalo surrounding a point source in M87 would have a diameter of order 1 microarcsecond (μas) and a surface brightness relative to the point source flux of order 10-29 μas-2 cm2 (H atom)-1, while the large-diameter halo due to scattering from dust within our own Galaxy would have a diameter of order 100" and a relative surface brightness more than 12 orders of magnitude lower than the microhalo surface brightness. We discuss the consequences of our results with regard to future high-resolution X-ray imaging observations, and also with regard to the possibility of using detailed measurements of the X-ray halo profile to determine the spatial distribution of dust along the line of sight and close to the source.
Cash Webster
Kahn Steven M.
Windt David L.
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