Date of Graduation
5-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Physics
Advisor/Mentor
Lehmer, Bret
Abstract
With the sophistication of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, many observations of the behaviors of binary systems have been researched and studied. As an excellent example, for the low metallicity Cartwheel Galaxy, some fraction of the X-ray photons emitted from X-ray binaries have been intercepted by the detectors on the telescope and have been compiled into “events file.” When modeled properly, this data can produce insight into the behavior of the stellar populations in this object. The primary goal of this project is to use these events files to measure the X-ray properties of the X-ray binaries in the Cartwheel Galaxy because the formation rate of these binaries is expected to be contingent on both metallicity and stellar age. Furthermore, the Cartwheel Galaxy is a collisional ring galaxy that recently underwent a burst of star formation from the collision. So, by creating Chandra data products, they can aid in the understanding of whether the X-ray emission from the X-ray binaries formed following the burst in the Cartwheel Galaxy is consistent or varying from the behavior of other galaxies.
Keywords
x-ray binary stars, metallicity, fitting techniques, emissions, spectral energy distributions
Citation
Benton, C. (2022). Chandra Spectral Constraints of the Low-metallicity Collision Ring Cartwheel Galaxy. Physics Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/physuht/6