English

The Magellanic Bridge: evidence for a population of X-ray binaries

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2015-05-14 v1 High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena

Abstract

INTEGRAL observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud region have resulted in the serendipitous detection of two transient hard X-ray sources in the Magellanic Bridge. In this paper we present the timing and spectral characteristics of these sources across the 2-100 keV energy range, which, in conjunction with their optical counterparts, demonstrate that they are high mass X-ray binaries in the Magellanic Bridge. Together with one previously known high mass X-ray binary system, and three candidates, these sources represent an emerging population of X-ray binaries in the Bridge, probably initiated by tidally induced star formation as a result of the gravitational interaction between the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0912.2951,
  title  = {The Magellanic Bridge: evidence for a population of X-ray binaries},
  author = {V. A. McBride and A. J. Bird and M. J. Coe and L. J. Townsend and R. H. D. Corbet and F. Haberl},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0912.2951},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

6 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS