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Populations of X-ray Binaries and the Dynamical History of their Host Galaxies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

Kinwah Wu
Kinwah Wu*
Affiliation:
Research Centre for Theoretical Astrophysics, School of Physics, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia, and Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Surrey RH5 6NT, United Kingdom; kw@mssl.ucl.ac.uk
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Abstract

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The observed luminosity distributions of X-ray sources indicate the presence of several populations of X-ray binaries in the nearby galaxies. Each population has its formation and evolutionary history, depending on the host environment. The features seen in the log N(>S)–log S curves for different types of galaxies and for different galactic components can be reproduced by a birth–death model, in which the lifespans of the binaries are inversely proportional to their X-ray brightness. Conversely, the dynamical history of a galaxy can be inferred from the luminosity distributions of its X-ray binary populations.

Keywords

galaxies: evolutionX-ray: binaries
Type
Research Article
Information
Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , 2001 , pp. 443 - 450
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2001

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