Hunting for accretors towards the bulge with the Chandra and Hubble Space Telescopes
Abstract
We are undertaking a deep X-ray/optical observational campaign of a well-studied low-extinction region towards the Galactic Bulge. Crucially, we have chosen a field for which very high-quality proper motions already exist from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations (or can be produced from a combination of archival and new observations covering much of the large Chandra ACIS-I field of view), allowing kinematic population membership constraints for X-ray point sources. While the ultimate scientific goal is to provide a new constraint on bulge formation models by tracing the accreting binary population that can be kinematically identified with the bulge, a large number of science investigations will ultimately be enabled by this initiative.Here we report on our search for accreting binaries within the Sagittarius Window. The deep Chandra observations provide a rich catalog of X-ray point sources, while the new HST observations allow a sensitive search for Hα emission-line objects including the accreting binaries we seek. We present the techniques used to uncover accretors, and outline progress towards a catalog of X-ray point sources with kinematic and Hα identifications.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #229
- Pub Date:
- January 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AAS...22914209H