Distribution of High Mass X-ray Binaries in the Milky Way

TL;DR

This study analyzes the spatial distribution of High Mass X-ray Binaries in the Milky Way, revealing their clustering with star forming complexes and providing insights into their formation and evolution.

Contribution

It presents a statistical analysis of HMXB distribution in the Galaxy using new distance estimates and correlates their locations with star forming complexes.

Findings

HMXBs are clustered with star forming complexes.

Typical cluster size of HMXBs is 0.3 kpc.

Average distance between HMXB clusters is 1.7 kpc.

Abstract

The INTEGRAL satellite, observing the sky at high energy, has quadrupled the number of supergiant X-ray Binaries known in the Galaxy and has revealed new populations of previously hidden High Mass X-ray Binaries. These observations raise new questions about the formation and evolution of these sources. The number of detected sources is now high enough to allow us to carry out a statistical analysis of the distribution of HMXBs in the Milky Way. We derive the distance of each HMXB using a Spectral Energy Distribution fitting procedure, and we examine the correlation with the distribution of star forming complexes (SFCs) in the Galaxy. We show that HMXBs are clustered with SFCs, with a typical size of 0.3 kpc and a characteristic distance between clusters of 1.7 kpc.