Reprinted with kind permission from , 4139 El
Camino Way, Palo Alto, California, USA
For a PDF version of the article, click
here.
POPULATIONS OF X-RAY SOURCES IN GALAXIES
G. Fabbiano
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts
02138; email:
gfabbiano@cfa.harvard.edu
Abstract. Today's sensitive X-ray observations allow the study of
populations of
X-ray binaries in galaxies as distant as 20-30 Mpc. Photometric
diagrams and luminosity functions applied to these populations provide
a direct probe of the evolved binary component of different stellar
populations. The study of the X-ray populations of E and S0 galaxies
has revamped the debate on the formation and evolution of low-mass
X-ray binaries (LMXBs) and on the role of globular clusters in these
processes. Though overall stellar mass drives the amount of X-ray
binaries in old stellar populations, the amount of sources in
star-forming galaxies is related to the star-formation rate.
Short-lived, luminous, high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) dominate these
young X-ray populations. The most luminous sources in these systems are
the debated ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). Observations of the
deep X-ray sky, and comparison with deep optical surveys, are providing
the first evidence of the X-ray evolution of galaxies.
Table of Contents
CHANDRA: A NEW PARADIGM
- POPULATION STUDIES IN X-RAYS
- X-Ray Photometry
- X-Ray Luminosity Functions
- OLD X-RAY BINARY POPULATIONS
- Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries in Early-Type
Galaxies: There They Are - Past and Present
- Source Spectra and Variability
- X-Ray Luminosity Functions of Low-Mass X-Ray
Binary Populations
- Association of Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries with
Globular Clusters: The Facts
- Metallicity and Dynamical Effects in Globular
Cluster Low-Mass X-Ray Binary Formation
- Constraints on the Formation and Evolution of
Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries: Field Binaries or Globular Cluster
Sources?
- Young Early-Type Galaxies and Rejuvenation
- YOUNG XRB POPULATIONS
- X-Ray Source Populations of Spiral and
Irregular Galaxies
- X-Ray Luminosity Functions - the X-Ray
Luminosity Function of the Star-Forming Population
- SUPER-SOFT SOURCES (SSSs) AND QUASI-SOFT SOURCES
(QSSs)
- ULTRALUMINOUS X-RAY SOURCES
- Association of ULXs with Active Star-Forming
Stellar Populations
- Spectra and Time Variability from Chandra and
XMM-Newton
- Counterparts at Other Wavelengths
- Models of ULX Formation and Evolution, and
Paths for Future Work
- X-RAY EMISSION AND GALAXY EVOLUTION
- REFERENCES
