scholarly journals The Globular Cluster Population of X-ray Binaries

1987 ◽  
Vol 125 ◽  
pp. 187-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Verbunt ◽  
Piet Hut

We discuss formation mechanisms for low-mass X-ray binaries in globular clusters. We apply the most efficient mechanism, tidal capture in close two-body encounters between neutron and main-sequence stars, to the clusters of our galaxy. The observed number of X-ray sources in these can be explained if the birth velocities of neutron stars are higher than estimated from velocity measurements of radiopulsars, or if the initial mass function steepens at high masses. We perform a statistical test on the distribution of X-ray sources with respect to the number of close encounters in globular clusters, and find satisfactory agreement between the tidal capture theory and observation, apart from the presence of low-mass X-ray binaries in four clusters with a very low encounter rate: Ter 1, Ter 2, Gr 1 and NGC 6712.EXOSAT observations indicate that some dim globular cluster sources may be less luminous than hitherto assumed, and support the view that the brighter dim sources may be soft X-ray transients in quiescence.

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (S351) ◽  
pp. 367-376
Author(s):  
Maureen van den Berg

AbstractThe features and make up of the population of X-ray sources in Galactic star clusters reflect the properties of the underlying stellar environment. Cluster age, mass, stellar encounter rate, binary frequency, metallicity, and maybe other properties as well, determine to what extent we can expect a contribution to the cluster X-ray emission from low-mass X-ray binaries, millisecond pulsars, cataclysmic variables, and magnetically active binaries. Sensitive X-ray observations withXMM-Newton and certainlyChandra have yielded new insights into the nature of individual sources and the effects of dynamical encounters. They have also provided a new perspective on the collective X-ray properties of clusters, in which the X-ray emissivities of globular clusters and old open clusters can be compared to each other and to those of other environments. I will review our current understanding of cluster X-ray sources, focusing on star clusters older than about 1 Gyr, illustrated with recent results.


2012 ◽  
Vol 747 (1) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Dabringhausen ◽  
Pavel Kroupa ◽  
Jan Pflamm-Altenburg ◽  
Steffen Mieske

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 423-424
Author(s):  
Motohide Tamura ◽  
Yoichi Itoh ◽  
Yumiko Oasa ◽  
Alan Tokunaga ◽  
Koji Sugitani

Abstract In order to tackle the problems of low-mass end of the initial mass function (IMF) in star-forming regions and the formation mechanisms of brown dwarfs, we have conducted deep infrared surveys of nearby molecular clouds. We have found a significant population of very low-luminosity sources with IR excesses in the Taurus cloud and the Chamaeleon cloud core regions whose extinction corrected J magnitudes are 3 to 8 mag fainter than those of typical T Tauri stars in the same cloud. Some of them are associated with even fainter companions. Follow-up IR spectroscopy has confirmed for the selected sources that their photospheric temperature is around 2000 to 3000 K. Thus, these very low-luminosity young stellar sources are most likely very low-mass T Tauri stars, and some of them might even be young brown dwarfs.


2006 ◽  
Vol 460 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Damiani ◽  
G. Micela ◽  
S. Sciortino ◽  
N. Huélamo ◽  
A. Moitinho ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (S246) ◽  
pp. 246-250
Author(s):  
Sambaran Banerjee ◽  
Pranab Ghosh

AbstractWe explore a Boltzmann scheme for studying the evolution of compact binary populations in globular clusters. We include processes of compact binary formation by tidal capture and exchange encounters, binary destruction by exchange and dissociation mechanisms and binary hardening by encounters, gravitational radiation and magnetic braking, as also the orbital evolution during mass transfer, following Roche lobe contact. From the evolution of compact-binary population, we investigate the dependence of the model number of X-ray binaries NXB on two essential cluster properties, namely, the star-star and star-binary encounter-rate parameters Γ and γ (Verbunt parameters). We find that the values of NXB and their expected scaling with the Verbunt parameters are in good agreement with results from recent X-ray observations of Galactic globular clusters.


2004 ◽  
Vol 194 ◽  
pp. 73-74
Author(s):  
T. J. Maccarone ◽  
A Kundu ◽  
S. E. Zepf ◽  
T. H. Puzia

AbstractWe summarize the key observations made in recent observations of X-ray sources in early-type galaxies. Typically about half of the X-ray binaries in early-type galaxies are in globular clusters, they are preferentially found in metal rich globular clusters, and there is no indication that cluster-age is an important parameter. Theoretical challenges are presented by these results.


1985 ◽  
Vol 113 ◽  
pp. 43-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan E. Grindlay

Recent studies of the x-ray sources in globular clusters have provided important new clues for both the dynamical processes in clusters and the stellar content and evolution of globular clusters. Very deep x-ray images of several globular clusters show evidence for diffuse x-ray emission from hot gas which may be related by a simple shock model to properties of both the cluster, such as its orbit in the Galaxy, and the interstellar medium in the halo of the Galaxy. The x-ray surveys conducted with the Einstein Observatory are reviewed and the results derived for the luminosity function, masses and nature of the compact x-ray sources are discussed. The evidence for the compact binary nature of the sources is now overwhelming, but long-term x-ray variability studies previously reported may suggest that some of the systems are in fact triple systems with distant companions. Possible relationships between the initial mass function, stellar density and cluster evolution are discussed, and our arguments that the ostensibly similar compact x-ray sources in the galactic bulge are remnants of a population of globular clusters disrupted by giant molecular clouds are updated.


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