Soft X-Rays from the Galaxy

Author(s):  
M. J. Rees
Keyword(s):  
X Rays ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 258-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Felten

Recent theories of the origins of diffuse-background X-rays are reviewed, with emphasis on theories of the soft flux in the galactic plane and at the poles. This is probably partly galactic and partly extragalactic in origin. Failure to observe absorption by the Small Magellanic Cloud and by galactic gas in neighboring directions may be due to sources in the Cloud and to statistical fluctuations in galactic emission and absorption. Several models for numerous low-luminosity sources in the Galaxy are available. True ‘diffuse’ emission seems unnecessary. Absorption by Galactic gas seems to agree roughly with theory. The soft extragalactic component may arise in a hot intergalactic medium.The existence of a ‘diffuse’ galactic-plane excess in 1–100 keV is in some doubt. Low-luminosity sources may contribute to this as well.For isotropic X-rays in 1 keV – 1 MeV, superposition theories involving clusters of galaxies, Seyfert galaxies, etc. over a cosmological path length are now roughly viable. Simple ‘metagalactic’ Compton theories seem excluded if the break at 40 keV is sharp, but this is now in doubt. A very hot intergalactic medium at T ≈ 3 × 108 K would give the possibility of a sharp break.A recent upper limit on the line source strength of 100-MeV photons in the galactic plane may create some difficulties for cosmic-ray theory. The spectral shape of π-γ photons has become a matter of theoretical dispute.


2003 ◽  
Vol 212 ◽  
pp. 515-522
Author(s):  
Anthony F.J. Moffat ◽  

While NGC 3603 is often quoted as the most massive visible Giant H ii Region in the Galaxy, there are other similar and even more massive regions now being found towards the inner Galaxy in the near-IR. Nevertheless, NGC 3603 still retains the status of clone to the dense core-object in 30 Dor, R 136 — but 7x closer and 49x less crowded! This paper summarizes the most recent findings concerning NGC 3603's color-magnitude diagram (CMD), initial mass function (IMF), mass segregation and stellar content — including its unusually luminous H-rich WNL members — down to its pre-main-sequence stars near the H-burning limit. Of special relevance are new high-resolution X-ray and radio images as related to merging/colliding winds and three massive proplyd-like objects. NGC 3603 is a somewhat younger, hotter, scaled-down version of typical starbursts found in other galaxies.


1973 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 235-249
Author(s):  
S. Hayakawa

The column densities of interstellar hydrogen to X-ray sources derived from their spectra are compared with those obtained from 21 cm radio observations. Referring to several observed results on Cyg X-2, Cygnus Loop etc., the interpretation of the low energy cut-off of the spectrum in terms of the interstellar absorption is subject to ambiguities due to a modification of the emission spectrum by Compton scattering in the sources and the contribution of emission lines.The result of soft X-ray sky surveys indicates that the diffuse component of soft X-rays consists of the extragalactic and the galactic components. The former has a hard component with a power law spectrum and a soft component which may be represented by an exponential spectrum. The galactic component is so soft that its spectrum may also be explained by thermal bremsstrahlung of temperature of about 0.1 keV. Its generation rate may account for the heating and ionization of interstellar matter. It is suggested that galactic diffuse soft X-rays are produced by active stars of a rather high number density.


1970 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 406-407
Author(s):  
M. J. Rees

Below 1 keV, analyses of X-ray background data are complicated by galactic absorption effects, which cause the received intensity to vary with galactic latitude. Bowyer et al. (1968) observed that the diffuse background did not fall off as rapidly as was expected towards the galactic plane. One plausible interpretation of their data would be to suppose that a significant flux of soft X-rays emanates from the disc itself. I wish to discuss what could be inferred about the latter component from improved observations of its latitude-dependence, and by indirect methods.


2019 ◽  
Vol 626 ◽  
pp. A48 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Ramos-Ceja ◽  
F. Pacaud ◽  
T. H. Reiprich ◽  
K. Migkas ◽  
L. Lovisari ◽  
...  

Presently, the largest sample of galaxy clusters selected in X-rays comes from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS). Although there have been many interesting clusters discovered with the RASS data, the broad point spread function of the ROSAT satellite limits the attainable amount of spatial information for the detected objects. This leads to the discovery of new cluster features when a re-observation is performed with higher-resolution X-ray satellites. Here we present the results from XMM-Newton observations of three clusters: RXC J2306.6−1319, ZwCl 1665, and RXC J0034.6−0208, for which the observations reveal a double or triple system of extended components. These clusters belong to the extremely expanded HIghest X-ray FLUx Galaxy Cluster Sample (eeHIFLUGCS), which is a flux-limited cluster sample (fX, 500 ≥ 5 × 10−12 erg s−1 cm−2 in the 0.1−2.4 keV energy band). For each structure in each cluster, we determine the redshift with the X-ray spectrum and find that the components are not part of the same cluster. This is confirmed by an optical spectroscopic analysis of the galaxy members. Therefore, the total number of clusters is actually seven, rather than three. We derive global cluster properties of each extended component. We compare the measured properties to lower-redshift group samples, and find a good agreement. Our flux measurements reveal that only one component of the ZwCl 1665 cluster has a flux above the eeHIFLUGCS limit, while the other clusters will no longer be part of the sample. These examples demonstrate that cluster–cluster projections can bias X-ray cluster catalogues and that with high-resolution X-ray follow-up this bias can be corrected.


1970 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 341-348
Author(s):  
V. G. Kurt ◽  
R. A. Sunyaev

(1)Observations. – A survey is made of observations of the background radiation at UV wavelengths from above the atmosphere. Sources of the background radiation and ways of determining the extragalactic component of the background are discussed. Future observations are also discussed.(2)Cosmology. – Limits to the properties of the intergalactic gas follow from observations of the UV background. The problem of detecting galaxies at early stages in their evolution is considered.(3)The Galaxy. – Observations and theoretical estimates are given for the integrated brightness of the Galaxy at UV wavelengths beyond the Lyman-α line. Also discussed are the nature of the Lyman-α emission from the Milky Way and the principal ways of constructing the luminosity function of stars in the Galaxy from observations of the integrated UV spectrum.(4)Subcosmic Rays in the Interstellar Medium. – Fast neutral excited hydrogen atoms can be formed from charge-exchange interactions between subcosmic-ray protons and neutral interstellar gas. Upper limits are given to the energy density of subcosmic rays having E ~ 100 keV.(5)Limits on the Background Radiation in the range <912 Å. – The distribution of neutral hydrogen in the peripheries of galaxies allows limits to be obtained for the flux of metagalactic ionising radiation. The heating and ionisation of the interstellar medium by X-rays is considered.


2004 ◽  
Vol 604 (2) ◽  
pp. 662-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Rockefeller ◽  
Christopher L. Fryer ◽  
Fulvio Melia ◽  
Michael S. Warren
Keyword(s):  
X Rays ◽  

1983 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 675-680
Author(s):  
Webster Cash

AbstractFour regions of the galaxy, the Cygnus Superbubble, the ƞ Carina complex, the Orion/Eridanus complex, and the Gum Nebula, are discussed as examples of collective effects in the interstellar medium. All four regions share certain features, indicating a common structure. We discuss the selection effects which determine the observable x-ray properties of the superbubbles and demonstrate that only a very few more in our galaxy can be detected in x-rays. X-ray observation of extragalactic superbubbles is shown to be possible but requires the capabilities of a large, high quality, AXAF class observatory.


2019 ◽  
Vol 627 ◽  
pp. A16 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. T. Zeegers ◽  
E. Costantini ◽  
D. Rogantini ◽  
C. P. de Vries ◽  
H. Mutschke ◽  
...  

Context. The composition and properties of interstellar silicate dust are not well understood. In X-rays, interstellar dust can be studied in detail by making use of the fine structure features in the Si K-edge. The features in the Si K-edge offer a range of possibilities to study silicon-bearing dust, such as investigating the crystallinity, abundance, and the chemical composition along a given line of sight. Aims. We present newly acquired laboratory measurements of the silicon K-edge of several silicate-compounds that complement our measurements from our earlier pilot study. The resulting dust extinction profiles serve as templates for the interstellar extinction that we observe. The extinction profiles were used to model the interstellar dust in the dense environments of the Galaxy. Methods. The laboratory measurements, taken at the Soleil synchrotron facility in Paris, were adapted for astrophysical data analysis and implemented in the SPEX spectral fitting program. The models were used to fit the spectra of nine low-mass X-ray binaries located in the Galactic center neighborhood in order to determine the dust properties along those lines of sight. Results. Most lines of sight can be fit well by amorphous olivine. We also established upper limits on the amount of crystalline material that the modeling allows. We obtained values of the total silicon abundance, silicon dust abundance, and depletion along each of the sightlines. We find a possible gradient of 0.06 ± 0.02 dex/kpc for the total silicon abundance versus the Galactocentric distance. We do not find a relation between the depletion and the extinction along the line of sight.


2020 ◽  
Vol 641 ◽  
pp. A149
Author(s):  
D. Rogantini ◽  
E. Costantini ◽  
S. T. Zeegers ◽  
M. Mehdipour ◽  
I. Psaradaki ◽  
...  

Context. The dense Galactic environment is a large reservoir of interstellar dust. Therefore, this region represents a perfect laboratory to study the properties of cosmic dust grains. X-rays are the most direct way to detect the interaction of light with dust present in these dense environments. Aims. The interaction between the radiation and the interstellar matter imprints specific absorption features on the X-ray spectrum. We study them with the aim of defining the chemical composition, the crystallinity, and structure of the dust grains that populate the inner regions of the Galaxy. Methods. We investigated the magnesium and the silicon K-edges detected in the Chandra /HETG spectra of eight bright X-ray binaries, distributed in the neighbourhood of the Galactic centre. We modelled the two spectral features using accurate extinction cross-sections of silicates, which we measured at the synchrotron facility Soleil, France. Results. Near the Galactic centre, magnesium and silicon show abundances similar to the solar ones and they are highly depleted from the gas phase (δMg > 0.90 and δSi > 0.96). We find that amorphous olivine with a composition of MgFeSiO4 is the most representative compound along all lines of sight according to our fits. The contribution of Mg-rich silicates and quartz is low (less than 10%). On average we observe a percentage of crystalline dust equal to 11%. For the extragalactic source LMC X-1, we find a preference for forsterite, a magnesium-rich olivine. Along this line of sight we also observe an under-abundance of silicon ASi∕ALMC = 0.5 ± 0.2.


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