Star Formation History and X-Ray Binary Populations: The Case of the Small Magellanic Cloud

Antoniou, Vallia; Zezas, A.; Hatzidimitriou, D.; Kalogera, V.

doi:10.1088/2041-8205/716/2/l140

Cited by 106 publications

(162 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Similarly Antoniou et al (2010) argue from the correlation between the number of BeXRBs and the local star formation rate 42 My ago at their current position for a maximum velocity of 15−20 km s −1 . Both cases should actually be regarded as minimum velocities as the BeXRB might not have been born in the nearest star cluster.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

SXP 1062, a young Be X-ray binary pulsar with long spin period

Haberl

Sturm

Filipović

et al. 2011

A&A

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Context. The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is ideally suited to investigating the recent star formation history from X-ray source population studies. It harbours a large number of Be/X-ray binaries (Be stars with an accreting neutron star as companion), and the supernova remnants can be easily resolved with imaging X-ray instruments. Aims. We search for new supernova remnants in the SMC and in particular for composite remnants with a central X-ray source. Methods. We study the morphology of newly found candidate supernova remnants using radio, optical and X-ray images and investigate their X-ray spectra.Results. Here we report on the discovery of the new supernova remnant around the recently discovered Be/X-ray binary pulsar CXO J012745.97−733256.5 = SXP 1062 in radio and X-ray images. The Be/X-ray binary system is found near the centre of the supernova remnant, which is located at the outer edge of the eastern wing of the SMC. The remnant is oxygen-rich, indicating that it developed from a type Ib event. From XMM-Newton observations we find that the neutron star with a spin period of 1062 s (the second longest known in the SMC) shows a very high average spin-down rate of 0.26 s per day over the observing period of 18 days. Conclusions. From the currently accepted models, our estimated age of around 10 000−25 000 years for the supernova remnant is not long enough to spin down the neutron star from a few 10 ms to its current value. Assuming an upper limit of 25 000 years for the age of the neutron star and the extreme case that the neutron star was spun down by the accretion torque that we have measured during the XMM-Newton observations since its birth, a lower limit of 0.5 s for the birth spin period is inferred. For more realistic, smaller long-term average accretion torques our results suggest that the neutron star was born with a correspondingly longer spin period. This implies that neutron stars in Be/X-ray binaries with long spin periods can be much younger than currently anticipated.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

SXP 1062, a young Be X-ray binary pulsar with long spin period

Haberl

Sturm

Filipović

et al. 2011

A&A

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“…LMC X-4, SMC X-1, Cen X-3). HMXBs are expected to be located in areas of relatively recent star formation, between 25-60 Myr ago (Antoniou et al 2010). …”

Section: X-ray Binariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The deepXMM-NewtonSurvey of M 31

Stiele

Pietsch

Haberl

et al. 2011

A&A

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Aims. The largest Local Group spiral galaxy, M 31, has been completely imaged for the first time, obtaining a luminosity lower limit ∼10 35 erg s −1 in the 0.2-4.5 keV band. Our XMM-Newton EPIC survey combines archival observations along the major axis, from The main goal of the paper is to study the X-ray source population of M 31.Methods. An X-ray catalogue of 1897 sources was created, with 914 detected for the first time. Source classification and identification were based on X-ray hardness ratios, spatial extent of the sources, and cross correlation with catalogues in the X-ray, optical, infrared, and radio wavelengths. We also analysed the long-term variability of the X-ray sources and this variability allows us to distinguish between X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei (AGN). Furthermore, supernova remnant classifications of previous studies that did not use long-term variability as a classification criterion could be validated. Including previous Chandra and ROSAT observations in the long-term variability study allowed us to detect additional transient or at least highly variable sources, which are good candidate X-ray binaries. Results. Fourteen of the 30 supersoft source (SSS) candidates represent supersoft emission of optical novae. Many of the 25 supernova remnants (SNRs) and 31 SNR candidates lie within the 10 kpc dust ring and other star-forming regions in M 31. This connection between SNRs and star-forming regions implies that most of the remnants originate in type II supernovae. The brightest sources in X-rays in M 31 belong to the class of X-ray binaries (XRBs). Ten low-mass XRBs (LMXBs) and 26 LMXB candidates were identified based on their temporal variability. In addition, 36 LMXBs and 17 LMXB candidates were identified owing to correlations with globular clusters and globular cluster candidates. From optical and X-ray colour-colour diagrams, possible high-mass XRB (HMXB) candidates were selected. Two of these candidates have an X-ray spectrum as is expected for an HMXB containing a neutron star primary. Conclusions. While our survey has greatly improved our understanding of the X-ray source populations in M 31, at this point 65% of the sources can still only be classified as "hard" sources; i.e. it is not possible to decide whether these sources are X-ray binaries or Crab-like supernova remnants in M 31 or X-ray sources in the background. Deeper observations in X-ray and at other wavelengths would help classify these sources.

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“…The SMC harbors a large population of young Xray binaries (XRBs), dominantly in forms of High Mass XRBs (HMXBs) with Be star companions. Thus, the SMC hosts an usually high number of Be-XRBs (e.g., Coe & Kirk 2015;Haberl & Sturm 2016;Antoniou & Zezas 2016), which is likely linked to the recent star formation episode and low metallicities in the region (e.g., Antoniou et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deep Chandra Survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud. II. Timing Analysis of X-Ray Pulsars

Hong

Antoniou

Zezas

et al. 2017

ApJ

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We report the timing analysis results of X-ray pulsars from a recent deep Chandra survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We have analyzed a total exposure of 1.4 Ms from 31 observations over a 1.2 deg 2 region in the SMC under a Chandra X-ray Visionary Program. Using the Lomb-Scargle and epoch folding techniques, we have detected periodic modulations from 20 pulsars and a new candidate pulsar. The survey also covers 11 other pulsars with no clear sign of periodic modulation. The 0.5-8 keV X-ray luminosity (L X ) of the pulsars ranges from 10 34 to 10 37 erg s −1 at 60 kpc. All the Chandra sources with L X 4×10 35 erg s −1 exhibit X-ray pulsations. The X-ray spectra of the SMC pulsars (and high mass X-ray binaries) are in general harder than those of the SMC field population. All but SXP 8.02 can be fitted by an absorbed power-law model with a photon index of Γ 1.5. The X-ray spectrum of the known magnetar SXP 8.02 is better fitted with a two-temperature blackbody model. Newly measured pulsation periods of SXP 51.0, SXP 214 and SXP 701 are significantly different from the previous XMM-Newton and RXTE measurements. This survey provides a rich data set for energy-dependent pulse profile modeling. Six pulsars show an almost eclipse-like dip in the pulse profile. Phase-resolved spectral analysis reveals diverse spectral variation during pulsation cycle: e.g., for an absorbed power-law model, some exhibit an (anti)-correlation between absorption and X-ray flux, while others show more intrinsic spectral variation (i.e., changes in photon indices).

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Star Formation History and X-Ray Binary Populations: The Case of the Small Magellanic Cloud

Cited by 106 publications

References 37 publications

SXP 1062, a young Be X-ray binary pulsar with long spin period

SXP 1062, a young Be X-ray binary pulsar with long spin period

The deepXMM-NewtonSurvey of M 31

Deep Chandra Survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud. II. Timing Analysis of X-Ray Pulsars

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