Identifying Weak Periodic X-Ray Sources in the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds
Abstract
This research was to search for multiple epochs of periodic x-ray emission from accreting binaries in Magellanic Clouds using data from NASA’s High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC). Many such sources have been discovered because of strongly pulsed, bright, outbursts. Our search concentrates on finding weaker sources that have multiple weak outbursts at similar pulse periods. Data was collected from the Chandra X-ray Observatory archive for the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds over many epochs, and the arrival times of photons from detected sources were barycentered to account for the movement of earth and our satellites. The number of photons arriving at any given time were counted for each object viewed and a fast Fourier transform (FFT) was performed using Python and the Numpy FFT function. Correlations of significant periodicities for single sources are ongoing.
Identifying Weak Periodic X-Ray Sources in the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds
This research was to search for multiple epochs of periodic x-ray emission from accreting binaries in Magellanic Clouds using data from NASA’s High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC). Many such sources have been discovered because of strongly pulsed, bright, outbursts. Our search concentrates on finding weaker sources that have multiple weak outbursts at similar pulse periods. Data was collected from the Chandra X-ray Observatory archive for the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds over many epochs, and the arrival times of photons from detected sources were barycentered to account for the movement of earth and our satellites. The number of photons arriving at any given time were counted for each object viewed and a fast Fourier transform (FFT) was performed using Python and the Numpy FFT function. Correlations of significant periodicities for single sources are ongoing.