A catalogue of high-mass X-ray binaries in the Galaxy: from the INTEGRAL to theGaiaera

Abstract

Context. High-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) are a particular class of high-energy sources that require multi-wavelength observational efforts to be properly characterised. New identifications and the refinement of previous measurements are regularly published in the literature by independent teams of researchers and might, when they are collected in a catalogue, offer a tool for facilitating further studies of HMXBs. Aims. We update previous instances of HMXB catalogues in the Galaxy and provide the community easy access to the most complete set of observables on Galactic HMXBs. In addition to the fixed version that is available in Vizier, we also aim to host and maintain a dynamic version that can be updated upon request from users. Any modification will be logged in this version. Methods. Using previous HMXB catalogues supplemented by listings of hard X-ray sources detected in the past 20 years, we produced a base set of HMXBs and candidates by means of identifier and sky coordinate cross matches. We queried in Simbad for unreferenced HMXBs. We searched for as many hard X-ray, soft X-ray, optical, and infrared counterparts to the HMXBs as we could in well-known catalogues and compiled their coordinates. Each HMXB was subjected to a meticulous search in the literature to find relevant measurements and the original reference. Results. We provide a catalogue of 152 HMXBs in the Galaxy with their best known coordinates, the spectral type of the companion star, systemic radial velocities, component masses, orbital period, eccentricity, and spin period when available. We also provide the coordinates and identifiers for each counterpart we found from hard X-rays to the near-infrared, including 111 counterparts from the recent Gaia DR3 catalogue.

Constraints on the Cosmological Coupling of Black Holes from the Globular Cluster NGC 3201

“…However, such low birth masses are in conflict with BHs in high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs), where a compact object accretes matter from the stellar winds of a young and massive (5 M e ) companion. Of the many known HMXBs (>100 in the MW alone; see the recent catalogs of Fortin et al 2023;Neumann et al 2023), three are known to host dynamically confirmed BHs: Cygnus X-1, with a BH mass of 21.2 ± 2.2 M e and an age of ∼4 Myr (Miller-Jones et al 2021); LMC X-1, with a BH mass of 10.91 ± 1.41 M e and an age of ∼5 Myr (Orosz et al 2009); and M33 X-7, with a BH mass of 11.4 M e and an age of ∼5.8 Myr (Ramachandran et al 2022). Because their accretion is fed from the winds of the companion, these BHs likely have masses close to their natal values.…”

XRBcats: Galactic High Mass X-ray Binary Catalogue

“…A handful of sources which are included in the recently published catalogue of high-mass X-ray binaries by Fortin et al (2023) are missing in our catalogue.Those are the already mentioned Sources AX J1700.1-4157, SAX J1819.3-2525 and AX J1838.0-0655, as well as GRS 1758-258. In the case of GRS 1758-258, there is a possibility that the system is a intermediate-mass X-ray binary as stated by Martí et al (2016), hence this source can be found in Avakyan et al (2023) instead of this catalogue.…”

“…can be found in the recently published catalogue of high-mass X-ray binaries in the Galaxy byFortin et al (2023) 26 https://alasky.u-strasbg.fr/hips-image-services/hips2fits…”

An apparent positive relation between spin and orbital angular momentum in X-ray binaries

“…The Corbet diagram (spin period 𝑃 spin vs. orbital period 𝑃 orb ) has been used as a great tool for studying the formation,evolution and accretion history of NS HMXB (Corbet 1984). We used the most updated HMXB catalog (Fortin et al 2023) and our NS LMXB samples to build the Corbet diagram. Our NS LMXB sample obviously differs from the HMXB sample on the Corbet diagram (see Figure 7).…”