The Chandra Small Magellanic Cloud Wing Survey - the search for X-ray Binaries

Abstract

We have detected 523 sources in a survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) Wing with Chandra. By cross-correlating the X-ray data with optical and near-infrared catalogues we have found 300 matches. Using a technique that combines X-ray colours and X-ray to optical flux ratios we have been able to assign preliminary classifications to 265 of the objects. Our identifications include four pulsars, one high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) candidate, 34 stars and 185 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). In addition, we have classified 32 sources as 'hard' AGNs which are likely absorbed by local gas and dust, and nine 'soft' AGNs whose nature is still unclear. Considering the abundance of HMXBs discovered so far in the Bar of the SMC the number that we have detected in the Wing is low.

10 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS. The full catalogue is available at http://www.astro.soton.ac.uk/~kem/smc_wing_cat.html

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Cited by in corpus (23)

• Be/X-ray binaries
• High-Mass X-ray binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Star formation history and X-ray binary populations: the case of the Small Magellanic Cloud
• The XMM-Newton survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud: The X-ray point-source catalogue
• Star-formation history and X-ray binary populations: the case of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• The XMM-Newton survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud
• XMM-Newton observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud: Be/X-ray binary pulsars active between October 2006 and June 2007
• The Close Binary Properties of Massive Stars in the Milky Way and Low-Metallicity Magellanic Clouds
• Deep Chandra survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud. III. Formation efficiency of High-Mass X-ray binaries
• The First Year of S-CUBED: The Swift Small Magellanic Cloud Survey
• The Chandra Local Volume Survey I: The X-ray Point Source Populations of NGC 55, NGC 2403, and NGC 4214
• The XMM-Newton survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud: XMMUJ010633.1-731543 and XMMUJ010743.1-715953, two new Be/X-ray binary systems
• The Chandra Local Volume Survey: The X-ray Point Source Catalog of NGC 300
• INTEGRAL deep observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Highly absorbed X-ray binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• Discovery of SXP265, a Be/X-ray binary pulsar in the Wing of the Small Magellanic Cloud
• X-ray and optical study of the new SMC X-ray binary pulsar system SXP7.92 and its probable optical counterpart, AzV285
• Properties of X-ray Binaries in the Magellanic Clouds from RXTE and Chandra Observations
• Transient X-ray source population in the Magellanic-type galaxy NGC 55
• Detection of a 522 s Pulsation from the Transient X-ray Source Suzaku J0102.8--7204 (SXP 523) in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• The Search for High-Mass X-ray Binaries in the Phoenix Dwarf Galaxy
• Transient X-ray Sources in the Magellanic-type Galaxy NGC 4449
• How non-thermal pressure impacts the modelling of star formation in galaxy formation simulations