Chandra observations of IC 10

DOI

We have monitored the Cassiopeia dwarf galaxy (IC 10) in a series of 10 Chandra ACIS-S observations to capture its variable and transient X-ray source population, which is expected to be dominated by High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs). We present a sample of 21 X-ray sources that are variable between observations at the 3{sigma} level, from a catalog of 110 unique point sources. We find four transients (flux variability ratio greater than 10) and a further eight objects with ratios >5. The observations span the years 2003-2010 and reach a limiting luminosity of >10^35^erg/s, providing sensitivity to X-ray binaries in IC 10 as well as flare stars in the foreground Milky Way. The nature of the variable sources is investigated from light curves, X-ray spectra, energy quantiles, and optical counterparts. The purpose of this study is to discover the composition of the X-ray binary population in a young starburst environment. IC 10 provides a sharp contrast in stellar population age (<10My) when compared to the Magellanic Clouds (40-200My) where most of the known HMXBs reside. We find 10 strong HMXB candidates, 2 probable background Active Galactic Nuclei, 4 foreground flare-stars or active binaries, and 5 not yet classifiable sources. Complete classification of the sample requires optical spectroscopy for radial velocity analysis and deeper X-ray observations to obtain higher S/N spectra and search for pulsations. A catalog and supporting data set are provided.

Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/836/50/table2 (Chandra ACIS-S source catalog of IC 10)

Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/836/50/table1 (Chandra observations of IC 10)

Identifier
DOI http://doi.org/10.26093/cds/vizier.18360050
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/836/50
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/836/50
Related Identifier https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/836/50
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/836/50
Provenance
Creator Laycock S.; Cappallo R.; Williams B.F.; Prestwich A.; Binder B.,Christodoulou D.M.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2017
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Cosmology; Galactic and extragalactic Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Physics; Stellar Astronomy