On the relationship between the ellipticity of Galactic globular clusters and their X-ray luminosity
Georgi P. Petrov, Svetoslav Botev, Antoniya Valcheva, Petko Nedialkov
TLDR
This study reveals that Galactic globular clusters with higher X-ray luminosity tend to exhibit greater ellipticity, using modern catalogs.
Key contributions
- Examined the relationship between ellipticity and X-ray luminosity of Milky Way globular clusters.
- Combined two modern catalogs with existing optical and X-ray data for analysis.
- Identified statistically significant differences in ellipticity distributions based on X-ray luminosity.
- Found that clusters with the highest X-ray luminosity generally have higher average ellipticity.
Why it matters
This research updates previous findings by incorporating X-ray data, revealing a new correlation between cluster ellipticity and X-ray luminosity. It provides crucial insights into the physical processes shaping these stellar systems, advancing our understanding of globular cluster evolution.
Original Abstract
We examine the dependence of the ellipticity of globular clusters in the Milky Way on their X-ray luminosity using two modern catalogs and combine them with optical and X-ray data from the literature. Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests applied across multiple subsets reveal statistically significant differences in the ellipticity distributions when both $L_{\rm X}$ and optical luminosity are considered. Two X-ray luminosity thresholds, $L_{\rm X}^*(M_{\rm{V}}=-7)=10^{33.05}$ erg/s and $L_{\rm X}^*(M_{\rm{V}}=-7)=10^{32.01}$ erg/s, yield the most reliable distinction. In contrast to earlier findings based solely on optical data, our results demonstrate that globular clusters with the highest X-ray luminosity tend to have higher ellipticity on average.
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