Issue |
A&A
Volume 489, Number 3, October III 2008
|
|
---|---|---|
Page(s) | 1121 - 1127 | |
Section | Galactic structure, stellar clusters, and populations | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200810213 | |
Published online | 11 September 2008 |
Properties of the Galactic population of cataclysmic variables in hard X-rays
1
Max-Planck-Institute für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85740 Garching bei München, Germany e-mail: mikej@mpa-garching.mpg.de
2
Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya 84/32, 117997 Moscow, Russia
3
Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany
Received:
17
May
2008
Accepted:
23
July
2008
We measure the spatial distribution and hard X-ray
luminosity function of cataclysmic variables (CVs) using the
INTEGRAL all-sky survey in the 17–60 keV energy band. The vast
majority of CVs detected by INTEGRAL are intermediate polars of luminosity
in the range 1032–1034 erg s-1. The scale
height of the Galactic disk population of intermediate polars is
found to be pc. The CV luminosity function
measured with INTEGRAL in hard X-rays is compatible with that
previously determined at lower energies (3–20 keV) using a largely
independent sample of sources detected by RXTE (located at |b| > 10° as
opposed to the INTEGRAL sample, which is strongly concentrated to the Galactic
plane). The cumulative 17–60 keV luminosity density of CVs per unit
stellar mass is found to be (1.3±0.3)
1027 erg s-1
, which is comparable to that of low-mass X-ray
binaries in this energy band. Therefore, faint but numerous CVs are
expected to provide an
important contribution to the cumulative hard X-ray emission of galaxies.
Key words: stars: binaries: close / stars: binaries: general / stars: novae, cataclysmic variables / stars: luminosity function, mass function / stars: white dwarfs / X-rays: binaries
© ESO, 2008
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