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We present a catalogue of point sources detected with the Mikhail Pavlinsky ART-XC telescope onboard the SRG observatory during a wide-field survey of the Galactic Bulge that was conducted as part of the mission's calibration and performance verification phase in 2019. The survey consisted of nearly 18 d of consecutive scanning observations of the sky region | l | < 6 deg, | b | < 2.5 deg with the median sensitivity of 4 × 10−13 erg s−1 cm−2 in the 4–12 keV energy band, which allows the detection of sources down to a luminosity of 3 × 1033 erg s−1 near the Galactic Centre. Using a maximum-likelihood-based algorithm, 172 sources were detected. Of these, 153 are registered on the average 4–12 keV map and 18 sources are either extremely hard (detected only at energies above 7 keV) or highly variable (detected only in individual scans shorter than a day). For 121 sources, there are plausible counterparts in other X-ray source catalogues, including 43 with known classification. The remaining 51 sources are previously unknown objects, discovered by ART-XC during the Galactic Bulge survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The properties of red clump giants in the central regions of the Galactic bulge are investigated in the photometric Z and Y bands of the infrared VVV (VISTA/ESO) survey and the [3.6], [4.5], [5.8], and [8.0] μm bands of the GLIMPSE (Spitzer/IRAC) Galactic plane survey. The absolute magnitudes for objects of this class have been determined in these bands for the first time: MZ = −0.20 ± 0.04, MY = −0.470 ± 0.045, M[3.6] = −1.70 ± 0.03, M[4.5] = −1.60 ± 0.03, M[5.8] = −1.67 ± 0.03, and M[8.0] = −1.70 ± 0.03. A comparison of the measured magnitudes with the predictions of theoretical models for the spectra of the objects under study has demonstrated good mutual agreement and has allowed some important constraints to be obtained for the properties of bulge red clump giants. In particular, a comparison with evolutionary tracks has shown that we are dealing predominantly with the high-metallicity subgroup of bulge red clump giants. Their metallicity is slightly higher than has been thought previously, [M/H] ≃ 0.40 (Z ≃ 0.038) with an error of [M/H] ≃ 0.1 dex, while the effective temperature is 4250± 150 K. Stars with an age of 9-10 Gyr are shown to dominate among the red clump giants, although some number of younger objects with an age of ~8 Gyr can also be present. In addition, the distances to several Galactic bulge regions have been measured, as D = 8200-8500 pc, and the extinction law in these directions is shown to differ noticeably from the standard one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to determining the nature of the hard X-ray source IGR J17463-2854 located toward the Galactic bulge. Using data from the INTEGRAL and Chandra X-ray observatories, we show that five point X-ray sources with approximately identical fluxes in the 2-10 keV energy band are detected in the error circle of the object under study. In addition, significant absorption at low energies has been detected in the spectra of all these sources. Based on data from the VVV (VISTA/ESO) infrared Galactic Bulge Survey, we have unambiguously identified three of the five sources, determined the J, H, and K magnitudes of the corresponding stars, and obtained upper limits on the fluxes for the remaining two sources. Analysis of the color-magnitude diagrams has shown that one of these objects most likely belongs to a class of rarely encountered objects, symbiotic binary systems (several tens are known with certainty), i.e., low-mass binary systems consisting of a white dwarf and a red giant. It is important to note that all our results were obtained using improved absorption values and an extinction law differing in this direction from the standard one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the stellar population of the Chandra Bulge Field (CBF) 35′ × 35′ in area using the Russian-Turkish RTT-150 telescope with the goal of constructing an interstellar extinction map and determining the extinction law. The optical extinction has been determined from the positions of red clump giants (a group of red giants with the same luminosity and color) on the color-magnitude diagram in different parts of the field. This has allowed an interstellar extinction map of the field under consideration to be constructed with a resolution of 1′ × 1′. Based on the results of our analysis, we have also shown that the extinction law in the investigated field differs significantly from the standard one, most likely because the dust properties in the Galactic bulge differ from those in the Galactic disk. The derived extinction law confirms the measurements in the outer parts of the Galactic bulge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]