The population of ULXs in the spiral galaxy NGC 2276

TL;DR

This study analyzes Chandra X-ray data of NGC 2276, revealing 17 X-ray sources including 6 new ULXs, and estimates the galaxy's star formation rate based on the luminosity function.

Contribution

First detailed Chandra analysis of NGC 2276's X-ray sources, identifying new ULXs and linking the luminosity function to high-mass X-ray binaries and star formation.

Findings

Detected 17 X-ray sources, including 6 new ULXs.

Constructed luminosity function indicating high-mass X-ray binaries.

Estimated star formation rate of 5-10 solar masses per year.

Abstract

We present results for X-ray point sources in the Sc galaxy NGC 2276, obtained by analyzing Chandra data. The galaxy is known to be very active in many wavelengths, possibly due to gravitational interaction with the central elliptical of the group, NGC 2300. However, previous XMM-Newton observations resulted in the detection of only one bright ULX and extended hot gas emission. We present here the X-ray population in NGC 2276 which comprises 17 sources. We found that 6 of them are new ULX sources in this spiral galaxy resolved for the first time by Chandra. We constructed the Luminosity Function that can be interpreted as mainly due of High Mass X-ray binaries, and estimate the Star Formation rate (SFR) to be SFR ~ 5-10 M_sun/yr.