Chandra Detection of Intracluster X-Ray Sources in Fornax

Based on archival Chandra observations with a total exposure of 1.3 Ms, we study X-ray point sources in the Fornax cluster of galaxies, with the primary aim of searching for intracluster X-ray source populations. We detect 1177 point sources out to a projected radius of ∼30 arcmin (∼180 kpc) from the cluster center and down to a limiting 0.5-8 keV luminosity of ∼3 × 10³⁷ erg s^-1. We construct the source surface density profile, after excluding sources associated with foreground stars, known globular clusters, ultra-compact dwarfs, and galactic nuclei. From this profile we statistically identify ∼183 excess sources that are not associated with the bulk stellar content of the individual member galaxies of Fornax, nor with the cosmic X-ray background. Taking into account Poisson error and cosmic variance, the cumulative significance of this excess is at the ≳2σ level (with a maximum of 3.6σ) outside three effective radii of the central giant elliptical, NGC 1399. The luminosity function of the excess sources is found to be significantly steeper than that of the GC-hosting sources (presumably low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs)), disfavoring the possibility that unidentified GCs are primarily responsible for the excess. We show that a large fraction of the excess can be related to the extended stellar halo of NGC 1399 and/or the diffuse intracluster light, thus providing strong evidence for the presence of intracluster X-ray sources in Fornax, the second unambiguous case for a galaxy cluster after Virgo. Other possible origins of the excess, including supernova-kicked LMXBs and stripped nucleated dwarf galaxies are discussed.