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The trail of discrete X-ray sources in the early-type galaxy NGC 4261: anisotropy in the globular cluster distribution
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 May 2006
Abstract
The recent evidence of a peculiar distribution of X-ray sources in the elliptical galaxy NGC 4261 reported by Zezas et al. has prompted us to study this galaxy combining archive X-ray and optical observations, from Chandra, INT, and HST. We find that a sizable fraction of the X-ray sources has a globular cluster as optical counterpart. This together with the shape of the luminosity function of the X-ray sources suggest that they are accreting low-mass binaries. We further show a remarkable similarity in the anisotropy of the projected spatial distributions of the optical and X-ray sources, which leads us to conclude that the spatial anisotropy of the X-ray sources in NGC 4261 is due to the anisotropy of the globular cluster population.
- Type
- Contributed Papers
- Information
- Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 1 , Symposium S230: Populations of High Energy Sources in Galaxies , August 2005 , pp. 205 - 209
- Copyright
- 2006 International Astronomical Union