Identification of the Infrared Counterpart to a Newly Discovered X‐Ray Source in the Galactic Center

2006/07/07 by Valerie J. Mikles, V. J. Mikles, Stephen S. Eikenberry +6
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/507480

published as Astrophys.J.651:408-415,2006 · 11 pages, 6 figures, ApJ accepted, 2006

arxiv created 2006/07/07 · openalex publication_date 2006/10/27 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

We present first results of a campaign to find and identify new compact objects in the Galactic center. Selecting candidates from a combination of Chandra and 2MASS survey data, we search for accretion disk signatures via infrared spectroscopy. We have found the infrared counterpart to the Chandra source CXO J174536.1-285638, the spectrum of which has strong Brγ and He I emission. The presence of C III, N III, and He II indicate a binary system. We suspect that the system is some form of high-mass binary system, either a high-mass X-ray binary or a colliding-wind binary.

Citations

• Diffuse X‐Ray Emission in a DeepChandraImage of the Galactic Center
• ChandraObservations of Associates of η Carinae. I. Luminosities
• Spextool: A Spectral Extraction Package for SpeX, a 0.8–5.5 Micron Cross‐Dispersed Spectrograph
• SpeX: A Medium‐Resolution 0.8–5.5 Micron Spectrograph and Imager for the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility
• A Method of Correcting Near-Infrared Spectra for Telluric Absorption
• XMM-Newton observations of the σ Ori cluster