The Large Deficit of HMXB Emission from Luminous Infrared Galaxies: the Case of the Circumnuclear Starburst Ring in NGC 7552

Abstract

Luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs), the most extreme star-forming galaxies in the nearby (D$<$30 Mpc) Universe, show a notable X-ray emission deficiency (up to a factor of $\sim$10) compared with predictions from scaling relations of galaxy-wide high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) luminosity with star-formation rate. In the nearby ($\approx$20 Mpc) LIRG NGC 7552, the majority of the IR emission originates in a circumnuclear starburst ring, which has been resolved into several discrete knots of star formation. We present results from recent Chandra observations of NGC 7552, which reveal significant deficits in the 2-7 keV X-ray luminosities from two of the most powerful star-forming knots. We hypothesize that the expected luminous HMXB populations in these knots are either (1) obscured by very large column densities or (2) suppressed due to the knots having relatively high metallicity and/or very young ages ($\lesssim$ 5 Myr). We distinguish between these possibilities using data from recent NuSTAR observations, whose sensitivity above 10 keV is capable of uncovering heavily obscured HMXB populations, since emission at these energies is more immune to absorption effects. We find no evidence of a heavily obscured HMXB population in the central region of NGC 7552, suggesting suppressed HMXB formation. We further show that metallicity-dependent scaling relations cannot fully account for the observed deficit from the most powerful star-forming knots or the central region as a whole. Thus, we suggest that recent bursts in local star formation activity likely drive the high $L_{\mathrm{IR}}$ within these regions on timescales $\lesssim$ 5 Myr, shorter than the timescale required for the formation of HMXBs.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in ApJ (17 pages, 3 tables, 8 figures)

References in corpus (61)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Array Programming with NumPy
• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• The Astropy Project: Building an inclusive, open-science project and status of the v2.0 core package
• On the variation of the Initial Mass Function
• The Global Schmidt Law in Star Forming Galaxies
• The Relation Between Optical Extinction and Hydrogen Column Density in the Galaxy
• X-ray emission from star-forming galaxies - I. High-mass X-ray binaries
• Optical Spectroscopy and Nebular Oxygen Abundances of the Spitzer/SINGS Galaxies
• The Ultraluminous State
• Progenitors of gravitational wave mergers: Binary evolution with the stellar grid-based code ComBinE
• A Chandra Perspective On Galaxy-Wide X-ray Binary Emission And Its Correlation With Star Formation Rate And Stellar Mass: New Results From Luminous Infrared Galaxies
• X-ray Binary Evolution Across Cosmic Time
• NuSTAR Observations of the Bullet Cluster: Constraints on Inverse Compton Emission
• Compact Binary Merger Rates: Comparison with LIGO/Virgo Upper Limits
• Triggered massive-star formation on the borders of Galactic HII regions. I. A search for `collect and collapse' candidates
• Energy Feedback from X-ray Binaries in the Early Universe
• X-ray emission from star-forming galaxies - II. Hot interstellar medium
• The Effect of Starburst Metallicity on Bright X-Ray Binary Formation Pathways
• X-ray Binary Luminosity Function Scaling Relations for Local Galaxies Based on Subgalactic Modeling
• A SINFONI view of Galaxy Centers: Morphology and Kinematics of five Nuclear Star Formation Rings
• Triggered massive-star formation at the border of the HII region Sh 104
• Enhanced X-ray emission from Lyman Break Analogues and a Possible $L_{\mathrm{X}}$--SFR--Metallicity Plane
• The Formation of Nuclear Rings in Barred Spiral Galaxies
• A Chandra X-ray Investigation of the Violent Interstellar Medium: From Dwarf Starbursts to Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies
• A Connection between Star Formation in Nuclear Rings and their Host Galaxies
• Evidence for Elevated X-ray Emission in Local Lyman Break Galaxy Analogs
• Star-formation history and X-ray binary populations: the case of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• The Metallicity Dependence of the High-Mass X-ray Binary Luminosity Function
• The origin of the Ultraluminous X-ray Sources
• GOALS-JWST: Tracing AGN Feedback on the Star-Forming ISM in NGC 7469
• X-ray emission from the extended disks of spiral galaxies
• Populations of stellar mass Black holes from binary systems
• Chandra ACIS-I particle background: an analytical model
• High-ionization Fe K emission from luminous infrared galaxies
• Mid-infrared diagnostics of starburst galaxies: clumpy, dense structures in star-forming regions in the Antennae (NGC 4038/4039)
• Exploring the Overabundance of ULXs in Metal- and Dust-poor Local Lyman Break Analogs
• Deep Chandra survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud. III. Formation efficiency of High-Mass X-ray binaries
• Connecting the metallicity dependence and redshift evolution of high-mass X-ray binaries
• The MOSDEF Survey: The Metallicity Dependence of X-ray Binary Populations at $z\sim 2$
• Supernova-Driven Outflows in NGC 7552: A Comparison of H-alpha and UV Tracers
• Star Formation in the Circumnuclear Environment of NGC1068
• The central region of M83: Massive star formation, kinematics, and the location and origin of the nucleus
• Cool Gas and Massive Stars - the Nuclear Ring in M100
• The Luminous Starburst Ring in NGC 7771: Sequential Star Formation?
• Near-infrared spectroscopy of the circumnuclear star formation regions in M100: Evidence for sequential triggering
• GOALS-JWST: Hidden Star Formation and Extended PAH Emission in the Luminous Infrared Galaxy VV 114
• Formation Timescales for High-Mass X-ray Binaries in M33
• A Hard X-ray Study of the Normal Star-Forming Galaxy M83 with NuSTAR
• A deficit of ultraluminous X-ray sources in luminous infrared galaxies
• Diffuse X-ray-emitting Gas in Major Mergers
• High Resolution IR Observations of the Starburst Ring in NGC 7552 -- One Ring to Rule Them All?
• A deep Chandra observation of the interacting star-forming galaxy Arp 299
• The Stellar Age Dependence of X-ray Emission from Normal Star-Forming Galaxies in the GOODS Fields
• GOALS-JWST: Unveiling Dusty Compact Sources in the Merging Galaxy IIZw096
• Formation of Dense Molecular Gas and Stars at the Circumnuclear Starburst Ring in the Barred Galaxy NGC 7552
• Do sub-galactic regions follow the galaxy-wide X-ray scaling relations? The example of NGC 3310 and NGC 2276
• On the X-ray Spectral Energy Distributions of Star-Forming Galaxies: the 0.3-30 keV Spectrum of the Low-Metallicity Starburst Galaxy VV 114
• Metallicity and X-ray luminosity variations in NGC 922
• The Nuclear Ring in the Barred Spiral Galaxy IC 4933
• The High Mass X-ray Binaries in star-forming galaxies

Cited by in corpus (2)

• The High Energy X-ray Probe (HEX-P): Studying Extreme Accretion with Ultraluminous X-ray Sources
• Emission Line Diagnostics for IMBHs in Dwarf Galaxies: Accounting for BH Seeding and ULX Excitation