Stellar X-ray sources in the Chandra COSMOS survey

TL;DR

This study analyzes the X-ray properties of 60 stellar sources in the Chandra COSMOS survey, revealing distant, luminous stars and expanding understanding of stellar X-ray emission at various distances and activity levels.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed X-ray analysis of a large, diverse sample of field stars in the COSMOS survey, including spectral and distance data for the most distant active stellar X-ray sources.

Findings

Detected stellar X-ray sources up to 12 kpc away.

Extended the X-ray luminosity-distance coverage for stars.

Identified both low-activity and highly active stellar X-ray sources.

Abstract

We present an analysis of the X-ray properties of a sample of solar- and late-type field stars identified in the Chandra Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS), a deep (160ks) and wide (0.9 deg2) extragalactic survey. The sample of 60 sources was identified using both morphological and photometric star/galaxy separation methods. We determine X-ray count rates, extract spectra and light curves and perform spectral fits to determine fluxes and plasma temperatures. Complementary optical and near-IR photometry is also presented and combined with spectroscopy for 48 of the sources to determine spectral types and distances for the sample. We find distances ranging from 30pc to ~12kpc, including a number of the most distant and highly active stellar X-ray sources ever detected. This stellar sample extends the known coverage of the L_X-distance plane to greater distances and higher luminosities, but we do not detect as many intrinsically faint X-ray sources compared to previous surveys. Overall the sample is typically more luminous than the active Sun, representing the high-luminosity end of the disk and halo X-ray luminosity functions. The halo population appears to include both low-activity spectrally hard sources that may be emitting through thermal bremsstrahlung, as well as a number of highly active sources in close binaries.