SPATIALLY RESOLVED STAR FORMATION IMAGE AND THE ULTRALUMINOUS X-RAY SOURCE POPULATION IN NGC 2207/IC 2163

• Main Authors: Mineo, S. (Author), Gilfanov, M. (Author), Pooley, D. (Author), Rappaport, Saul A (Author), Steinhorn, B. (Author), Levine, Alan M (Author)
• Other Authors: Harvard University- (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics (Contributor), MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (Contributor), Rappaport, Saul A. (Contributor), Steinhorn, Benjamin S. (Contributor), Levine, Alan M. (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Physics/American Astronomical Society, 2015-02-06T17:05:00Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

The colliding galaxy pair NGC 2207/IC 2163, at a distance of ~39 Mpc, was observed with Chandra, and an analysis reveals 28 well resolved X-ray sources, including 21 ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) with L X ≿1039 erg s[superscript -1], as well as the nucleus of NGC 2207. The number of ULXs is comparable with the largest numbers of ULXs per unit mass in any galaxy yet reported. In this paper we report on these sources, and quantify how their locations correlate with the local star formation rates seen in spatially resolved star formation rate density images that we have constructed using combinations of GALEX FUV and Spitzer 24 μm images. We show that the numbers of ULXs are strongly correlated with the local star formation rate densities surrounding the sources, but that the luminosities of these sources are not strongly correlated with star formation rate density.
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Chandra Grant GO1-12111X)
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Chandra Grant GO2-13105A)