The Galactic population of HMXBs as seen with INTEGRAL during its four first years of activity

TL;DR

This study compiles and analyzes the properties of Galactic high-mass X-ray binaries detected by INTEGRAL over four years, testing theoretical models and proposing new classification tools for HMXB subtypes.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive dataset of INTEGRAL-detected sources and introduces two novel tools to differentiate Be-HMXBs from Sg-HMXBs beyond the traditional Corbet diagram.

Findings

HMXBs are mainly located along Galactic arms

LMXBs are concentrated in the Galactic bulge

Two new classification tools for HMXB subtypes are proposed

Abstract

We collected the parameters (position, absorption, spin, orbital period, etc..), when known, of all Galactic sources detected by INTEGRAL during its four first years of activity. We use these parameters to test theoretical predictions. For example, it is clear that HMXBs tend to be found mostly in the tangential direction of the Galactic arms, while LMXBs tend to be clustered in the Galactic bulge. We then focus on HMXBs and present two possible new tools, in addition to the well-known ``Corbet-diagram'', to distinguish between Be-HMXBs and Sg-HMXBs