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The MAVERIC Survey: Chandra/ACIS Catalog of Faint X-Ray Sources in 38 Galactic Globular Clusters.

Authors :
Bahramian, Arash
Strader, Jay
Miller-Jones, James C. A.
Chomiuk, Laura
Heinke, Craig O.
Maccarone, Thomas J.
Pooley, David
Shishkovsky, Laura
Tudor, Vlad
Zhao, Yue
Li, Kwan Lok
Sivakoff, Gregory R.
Tremou, Evangelia
Buchner, Johannes
Source :
Astrophysical Journal. 9/20/2020, Vol. 901 Issue 1, p1-24. 24p.
Publication Year :
2020

Abstract

Globular clusters host a variety of lower-luminosity (LX < 1035 erg s−1) X-ray sources, including accreting neutron stars (NSs) and black holes (BHs), millisecond pulsars (MSPs), cataclysmic variables, and chromospherically active binaries. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive catalog of more than 1100 X-ray sources in 38 Galactic globular clusters (GCs) observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory's Chandra/ACIS detector. The targets are selected to complement the MAVERIC survey's deep radio continuum maps of Galactic GCs. We perform photometry and spectral analysis for each source, determine a best-fit model, and assess the possibility of it being a foreground or background source based on its spectral properties and location in the cluster. We also provide basic assessments of variability. We discuss the distribution of X-ray binaries in GCs and their X-ray luminosity function, and we carefully analyze systems with LX > 1033 erg s−1. Among these moderately bright systems, we discover a new source in NGC 6539 that may be a candidate accreting stellar-mass BH or a transitional MSP. We show that quiescent NS low-mass X-ray binaries in GCs may spend ∼2% of their lifetimes as transitional MSPs in their active (LX > 1033 erg s−1) state. Finally, we identify a substantial underabundance of bright (LX > 1033 erg s−1) intermediate polars in GCs compared to the Galactic field, in contrast with the literature of the past two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0004637X
Volume :
901
Issue :
1
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
Astrophysical Journal
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
146086028
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aba51d