A Deep Chandra Observation of the Giant HII Region N11
I. X-ray Sources in the Field
Yael Naze, Q. Daniel Wang, You-Hua Chu, Robert Gruendl, Lida Oskinova
Abstract:
A very sensitive X-ray investigation of the giant HII region N11 in the
LMC was performed using the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The 300ks
observation reveals X-ray sources with luminosities down to 10^32 erg/s,
increasing by more than a factor of 5 the number of known point sources
in the field. Amongst these detections are 13 massive stars (3 compact
groups of massive stars, 9 O-stars and one early B-star) with
log(Lx/Lbol)~-6.5 to -7, which may suggest that they are highly magnetic
or colliding wind systems. On the other hand, the stacked signal for
regions corresponding to undetected O-stars yields log(Lx/Lbol)~-7.3,
i.e., an emission level comparable to similar Galactic stars despite the
lower metallicity. Other point sources coincide with 11 foreground
stars, 6 late-B/A stars in N11, and many background objects. This
observation also uncovers the extent and detailed spatial properties of
the soft, diffuse emission regions but the presence of some hotter
plasma in their spectra suggests contamination by the unresolved stellar
population.
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