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The Nature of the Faint Chandra X-ray Sources in the Galactic Centre

A. J. Ruiter, K. Belczynski, T. E. Harrison

astro-pharXiv:astro-ph/0511813

Abstract

Recent Chandra observations have revealed a large population of faint X-ray point sources in the Galactic Centre. The observed population consists of about 2000 faint sources in the luminosity range ~1031-1033 erg/s. The majority of these sources (70%) are described by hard spectra, while the rest are rather soft. The nature of these sources still remains unknown. Belczynski & Taam (2004) demonstrated that X-ray binaries with neutron star or black hole accretors may account for most of the soft sources, but are not numerous enough to account for the observed number and X-ray properties of the faint hard sources. A population synthesis calculation of the Galactic Centre region has been carried out. Our results indicate that the numbers and X-ray luminosities of intermediate polars are consistent with the observed faint hard Galactic Centre population.

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