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Deep Chandra Monitoring Observations of NGC 4649. I. Catalog of Source Properties

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Abstract

  • We present the X-ray source catalog for the Chandra monitoring observations of the elliptical galaxy, NGC 4649. The galaxy has been observed with Chandra ACIS-S3 in six separate pointings, reaching a total exposure of 299 ks. There are 501 X-ray sources detected in the 0.3-8.0 keV band in the merged observation or in one of the six individual observations; 399 sources are located within the D25 ellipse. The observed 0.3-8.0 keV luminosities of these 501 sources range from 9.3 × 1036 erg s-1 to 5.4 × 1039 erg s-1. The 90% detection completeness limit within the D25 ellipse is 5.5 × 1037 erg s-1. Based on the surface density of background active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and detection completeness, we expect ?45 background AGNs among the catalog sources (?15 within the D25 ellipse). There are nine sources with luminosities greater than 1039 erg s-1, which are candidates for ultraluminous X-ray sources. The nuclear source of NGC 4649 is a low-luminosity AGN, with an intrinsic 2.0-8.0 keV X-ray luminosity of 1.5 × 1038 erg s-1. The X-ray colors suggest that the majority of the catalog sources are low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We find that 164 of the 501 X-ray sources show long-term variability, indicating that they are accreting compact objects. We discover four transient candidates and another four potential transients. We also identify 173 X-ray sources (141 within the D25 ellipse) that are associated with globular clusters (GCs) based on Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based data; these LMXBs tend to be hosted by red GCs. Although NGC 4649 has a much larger population of X-ray sources than the structurally similar early-type galaxies, NGC 3379 and NGC 4278, the X-ray source properties are comparable in all three systems.

Publication Date

  • 2013

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