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PhD Thesis (PDF) - Department of Astronomy - University of Virginia

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this, the result <strong>of</strong> dynamical interactions in GCs will tend to be the creation <strong>of</strong> tight<br />

binaries containing compact objects. In fact, in the Milky Way, LMXBs are much<br />

more likely to be found in GCs than in the field, given the number <strong>of</strong> stars in GCs;<br />

∼ 10% <strong>of</strong> Galactic LMXBs are found in GCs, while GCs contain only ∼ 0.06% <strong>of</strong> the<br />

optical light <strong>of</strong> the Milky Way. Clark (1975) suggested that dynamical interactions<br />

in GCs could account for this association <strong>of</strong> LMXBs with GCs.<br />

At least thirteen LMXBs are associated with 12 GCs. (If the two transient LMXBs<br />

in NGC 6440 were different LMXBs, then there are 14 LMXBs in 12 GCs.) We list the<br />

LMXB names and corresponding GC names in Table 1.1. Nearly all <strong>of</strong> these sources<br />

show Type-I X-ray bursts. These bursts are thermonuclear flashes that must occur on<br />

a physical surface. This indicates that the compact objects in the bursting LMXBs<br />

are NSs. A few <strong>of</strong> these sources are transient and are not currently active. Given<br />

these relatively low numbers <strong>of</strong> LMXBs and associated GCs, it is difficult to perform<br />

detailed studies <strong>of</strong> the Galactic LMXB-GC connection; however some patterns have<br />

emerged. First, the Galactic GCs with LMXBs tend to have high central densities<br />

(Grindlay 1993). This suggests that dynamical interactions play a role in the GC-<br />

LMXB connection. This result is supported by recent work by Bregman et al. (2006),<br />

which indicated that the Galactic GCs with LMXBs tend to have a higher dynamical<br />

interaction rate than those without LMXBs. The second pattern is that the GCs<br />

with LMXBs tend to be found in the disk <strong>of</strong> our Galaxy (Grindlay 1993). This may<br />

indicate that tidal shocking and disruptive encounters with the disk play a role in<br />

the formation <strong>of</strong> LMXBs. Perhaps it is more likely that this is due to a preference <strong>of</strong><br />

LMXBs for GCs with higher metallicities, which is a property <strong>of</strong> the disk GCs.<br />

A much larger sample is needed to probe the LMXB-GC connection. The com-<br />

bination <strong>of</strong> Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope observations <strong>of</strong><br />

9

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