2009/08/17 by Douglas A. Swartz, Swartz, Douglas A.
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.HE
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0908.2459
5 pages to appear in the Proceedings of the Galaxy Wars: Stellar Populations and Star Formation in Interacting Galaxies Conference
arxiv created 2009/08/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
I give a brief review of how X-rays from nearby galaxies are used as direct tracers of recent star formation. This leads to the conclusion that it is the most luminous point-like sources that are associated with star formation and that the majority of these are high-mass X-ray binaries.I then discuss a recent study that shows that ULXs are preferentially found in regions as young as or younger than typical HII regions in their host galaxies. Finally, I describe a new study that attempts to determine the maximum luminosity of ULXs in the local universe by searching for them in interacting galaxies where the star formation rate is high.