Transient X-ray source population in the Magellanic-type galaxy NGC 55

Abstract

We present the spectral and temporal properties of 15 candidate transient X-ray sources detected in archival {\it XMM-Newton} and {\it Chandra} observations of the nearby Magellanic-type, SB(s)m galaxy NGC 55. On the basis of an X-ray color classification scheme, the majority of the sources may be identified as X-ray binaries (XRBs), and six sources are soft, including a likely supernova remnant. We perform a detailed spectral and variability analysis of the data for two bright candidate XRBs. Both sources displayed strong short-term X-ray variability, and their X-ray spectra and hardness ratios are consistent with those of XRBs. These results, combined with their high X-ray luminosities ($\sim 10^{38}~\rm erg~s^{-1}$), strongly suggest that they are black hole (BH) binaries. Seven less luminous sources have spectral properties consistent with those of neutron star or BH XRBs in both normal and high-rate accretion modes, but one of them is the likely counterpart to a background galaxy (because of positional coincidence). From the spectral analysis, we find that the six soft sources are candidate super soft sources (SSSs), with dominant emission in the soft (0.3--2 keV) X-ray band. Archival {\it Hubble Space Telescope} optical images for 7 sources are available, and the data suggest that most of them are likely to be high-mass XRBs. Our analysis has revealed the heterogeneous nature of the transient population in NGC 55 (6 high-mass XRBs, 1 low-mass XRBs, 6 SSSs, 1 active galactic nucleus), helping establish the similarity of the X-ray properties of this galaxy to those of other Magellanic-type galaxies.