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The Luminosity Function of X-ray Point Sources in Centaurus A

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2006

Rasmus Voss  and
Marat Gilfanov
Rasmus Voss
Affiliation:
MPA, Karl Schwarzschild-Strasse 1, 85741 Garching, Germany email: voss@mpa-garching.mpg.de
Marat Gilfanov
Affiliation:
MPA, Karl Schwarzschild-Strasse 1, 85741 Garching, Germany email: voss@mpa-garching.mpg.de
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Abstract

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We studied the population of X-ray point sources in the elliptical galaxy Centaurus A, using archival Chandra data. Within a radius of 10 arcmin from the centre we detected 272 sources. Of these approximately half are LMXBs with the rest being CXB sources. The spatial distribution of the LMXBs is found to be consistent with the distribution of K-band light. We constrain the luminosity function (LF) of the X-ray sources down to ${\sim} 2\times 10^{36}$ erg s$^{-1}$. The X-ray LF of the LMXBs flattens significantly below $L_X\sim 5\times 10^{37}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and follows the $dN/dL\propto L^{-1}$ law in agreement with results from the bulges of spiral galaxies.

Keywords

galaxies: individual (Centaurus A)X-rays: binariesX-rays: galaxies
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 1 , Symposium S230: Populations of High Energy Sources in Galaxies , August 2005 , pp. 364 - 368
Copyright
2006 International Astronomical Union