The Chandra local volume survey: The x-ray point-source catalog of NGC300

B. Binder, B. F. Williams, M. Eracleous, T. J. Gaetz, P. P. Plucinsky, E. D. Skillman, J. J. Dalcanton, S. F. Anderson, D. R. Weisz, A. K.H. Kong

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present the source catalog of a new Chandra ACIS-I observation of NGC300 obtained as part of the Chandra Local Volume Survey. Our 63 ks exposure covers 88% of the D 25 isophote (R 6.3kpc) and yields a catalog of 95 X-ray point sources detected at high significance to a limiting unabsorbed 0.35-8keV luminosity of 1036ergs-1. Sources were cross-correlated with a previous XMM-Newton catalog, and we find 75 "X-ray transient candidate" sources that were detected by one observatory, but not the other. We derive an X-ray scale length of 1.7 ± 0.2kpc and a recent star formation rate of 0.12 M yr-1 in excellent agreement with optical observations. Deep, multi-color imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope, covering 32% of our Chandra field, was used to search for optical counterparts to the X-ray sources, and we have developed a new source classification scheme to determine which sources are likely X-ray binaries, supernova remnants, and background active galactic nucleus candidates. Finally, we present the X-ray luminosity functions (XLFs) at different X-ray energies, and we find the total NGC300 X-ray point-source population to be consistent with other late-type galaxies hosting young stellar populations (≲ 50 Myr). We find that XLF of sources associated with older stellar populations has a steeper slope than the XLF of X-ray sources coinciding with young stellar populations, consistent with theoretical predictions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number15
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume758
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 10 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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