Identification of the Infrared Counterpart to a Newly Discovered X-ray Source in the Galactic Center

Valerie J. Mikles(1) Stephen S. Eikenberry(1) Michael P. Muno(2) Reba M. Bandyopadhyay(1) Shannon Patel(3)

(1) Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
(2) University of California, Los Angeles, Hubble Fellow
(3) University of California, Santa Cruz

Paper: ApJ, Oct 2006, in press

Weblink: http://xxx.lanl.gov/pdf/astro-ph/0607147

EPrint Server: astro-ph/0607147

Abstract:

We present first results of a campaign to find and identify new compact objects in the Galactic Center. Selecting candidates from a combination of Chandra and 2MASS survey data, we search for accretion disk signatures via infrared spectroscopy. We have found the infrared counterpart to the Chandra source CXO J174536.1-285638, the spectrum of which has strong Br gamma and HeI emission. The presence of CIII, NIII, and HeII indicate a binary system. We suspect that the system is some form of high-mass binary system, either a high-mass X-ray binary or a colliding wind binary.

Preprints available from the authors at mikles@astro.ufl.edu , or the raw TeX (no figures) if you click here.

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