Galactic centre X-ray sources
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We report on a campaign to identify the counterparts to the population of X-ray sources discovered at the centre of our Galaxy by Wang et al.(2002) using Chandra. We have used deep, near infrared images obtained on VLT/ISAAC to identify candidate counterparts as astrometric matches to the X-ray positions. Follow up Ks-band spectroscopic observations of the candidate counterparts are used to search for accretions signatures in the spectrum, namely the Brackett-Gamma emission line (Bandyopadhyay et al.1997). From our small initial sample, it appears that only a small percentage, ~2-3% of the ~1000 X-ray sources are high mass X-ray binaries or wind accreting neutron stars, and that the vast majority will be shown to be canonical low mass X-ray binaries and cataclysmic variables.
4 pages, 3 figures; Poster to appear in AIP Conf. Proc.: `The Multicoloured Landscape of Compact Objects and their Explosive Origins'; Cefalu, Sicily, 2006 June 11-24
4 pages, 3 figures; Poster to appear in AIP Conf. Proc.: `The Multicoloured Landscape of Compact Objects and their Explosive Origins'; Cefalu, Sicily, 2006 June 11-24