A Chandra Perspective on Galaxy-wide X-ray Binary Emission and its Correlation with Star Formation Rate and Stellar Mass: New Results from Luminous Infrared Galaxies
Abstract
We present new Chandra observations that complete a sample of seventeen (17) luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) with D < 60 Mpc and low Galactic column densities of N H <~ 5 × 1020 cm-2. The LIRGs in our sample have total infrared (8-1000 μm) luminosities in the range of L IR≈ (1-8) × 1011 L sun. The high-resolution imaging and X-ray spectral information from our Chandra observations allow us to measure separately X-ray contributions from active galactic nuclei and normal galaxy processes (e.g., X-ray binaries and hot gas). We utilized total infrared plus UV luminosities to estimate star formation rates (SFRs) and K-band luminosities and optical colors to estimate stellar masses (M sstarf) for the sample. Under the assumption that the galaxy-wide 2-10 keV luminosity (L gal HX) traces the combined emission from high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) and low-mass X-ray binaries, and that the power output from these components is linearly correlated with SFR and M sstarf, respectively, we constrain the relation L gal HX = αM sstarf + βSFR. To achieve this, we construct a Chandra-based data set composed of our new LIRG sample combined with additional samples of less actively star-forming normal galaxies and more powerful LIRGs and ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) from the literature. Using these data, we measure best-fit values of α = (9.05 ± 0.37) × 1028 erg s-1 M -1 sun and β = (1.62 ± 0.22) × 1039 erg s-1 (M sun yr-1)-1. This scaling provides a more physically meaningful estimate of L gal HX, with ≈0.1-0.2 dex less scatter, than a direct linear scaling with SFR. Our results suggest that HMXBs dominate the galaxy-wide X-ray emission for galaxies with SFR/M sstarf gsim5.9 × 10-11 yr-1, a factor of ≈2.9 times lower than previous estimates. We find that several of the most powerful LIRGs and ULIRGs, with SFR/M sstarf >~ 10-9 yr-1, appear to be X-ray underluminous with respect to our best-fit relation. We argue that these galaxies are likely to contain X-ray binaries residing in compact star-forming regions that are buried under thick galactic columns large enough to attenuate emission in the 2-10 keV band (N H >~ 1023 cm-2).
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- November 2010
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0004-637X/724/1/559
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1009.3943
- Bibcode:
- 2010ApJ...724..559L
- Keywords:
-
- cosmology: observations;
- galaxies: starburst;
- infrared: galaxies;
- X-rays: binaries;
- X-rays: galaxies;
- Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Accepted for publication in ApJ (14 pages, 6 figures, and 4 tables)