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V. Beckmann, C. R. Shrader (NASA/GSFC)
INTEGRAL has discovered more than 100 new hard X-ray sources so far. Even though only about 25 been identified so far, a new class of High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXB) has been discovered. Those HMXBs show high and variable intrinsic absorption, probably caused by strong stellar wind of the donator. All HMXBs discovered so far appear to contain a neutron star as the compact object. These Compton thick objects have become accessible only through the hard X-ray detection capabilities of INTEGRAL. The sources could be responsible for a significant fraction of the Galactic hard X-ray background above 10 keV. We discuss the properties of this new class of absorbed sources.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.