A New Deep, Hard X-ray Survey of M31: Monitoring Black Hole and Neutron Star Accretion States in the X-ray Binary Population of Our Nearest Neighbor
Abstract
X-ray binaries (XRBs) trace old and new stellar populations in galaxies, and thus star formation history and star formation rate. X-ray emission from XRBs may be responsible for significant amounts of heating of the early Intergalactic Medium at Cosmic Dawn and may also play a significant role in reionization. Until recently, the hard emission from these populations could only be studied for XRBs in our own galaxy, where it is often difficult to measure accurate distances and thus luminosities. The launch of NuSTAR, the first focusing hard X-ray observatory, has allowed us to resolve the brightest XRBs (down to LX ~ few times 1038 erg/s) in galaxies like NGC 253, M83, and M82 up to 4 Mpc away. To reach much lower X-ray luminosities that are more typical of XRBs in the Milky Way (LX <~ 1037 erg/s), we have observed M31 in 3 NuSTAR fields, up to 5 visits apiece for more than 1 Ms total exposure, mostly within the footprint of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) Survey. Our monitoring campaign reveals over 40 accreting black holes and neutron stars -- distinguished from each other by their spectral shape in the hard band -- some of which undergo state changes over the month-long timescales captured by our legacy survey to date. We also discuss implications for this updated understanding of XRB populations on early-Universe measurements in, e.g., the 7 Ms Chandra Deep Field survey.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #227
- Pub Date:
- January 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AAS...22712604W