Spectroscopic Identification of Near-Infrared Variables in the Galactic Center Region
Abstract
More than 3000 low-luminosity X-ray sources (1030-1033 erg/s at 8 kpc) have been detected in a 17'x17' region around Sgr A*. The details of their nature, which is still elusive, would bring new insights in the evolutionary history of accreting compact binaries and of the inner Galaxy. The high extinction towards the Galactic Center (Av>25) and the high stellar density are the main obstacles in the characterization of these X-ray sources.
We detected 400 near-infrared (K band) long term variables (3 epochs over 6 years) in the Galactic Center Region (GCR), and obtained near infrared multi-object spectroscopy with MMIRS at Magellan for 100 of them, including 15 that are possibly associated with an X-ray source. Even if the number of expected matches by chance is of the same order, we may find real associations and identify some of the X-ray sources. We report IR-spectra results for the expected population of Mira variables, as well as searches for possible Chandra source matches that could be compact binaries with bright (K<16) red companions.- Publication:
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AAS/High Energy Astrophysics Division #12
- Pub Date:
- September 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011HEAD...12.1307S