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A. Zezas (CfA), G. Fabbiano (SAO), F. Schweizer (Carnegie Observatories), A. R. King (University of Leicester), A. Baldi (SAO), T. J. Ponman (Universoty of Birmingham), J. C. Raymond (CfA), A. M. Read (University of Leicester), A. H. Rots (SAO)
We present results on the discrete X-ray sources of the Antennae galaxies, based on 8 monitoring observations performed with Chandra. We detect between 37 and 49 sources in each observation. After combining all the observations we detect a total of 120 sources down to a detection limit of ~2x1037 erg/s (D=19 Mpc). We discuss the spectral and temporal characteristics of the sources and their implications for the sources' nature. We find that the X-ray sources follow diverse spectral variability patterns suggesting that they belong to different populations or long term states. The discrete sources are in their majority associated with young star clusters, indicating that they are High Mass X-ray binaries. Finally, we present the X-ray luminosity functions (XLF) of the discrete sources from the individual as well as the co-added observations and we discuss the effect of source variability on the shape of the luminosity function. By comparing the XLF of the Antennae with the XLFs of other galaxies we investigate the link between stellar populations and the shape of the XLF. We acknowledge support by NASA contract NAS8-39073 (CXC), NASA Grants GO2-3135X, NAG5-13056 and NSF grant AST-0205994.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.