Population Synthesis




The M31 project

X-ray binaries (XBs) dominate the X-ray emission of normal galaxies. We are using the X-ray satellite XMM-Newton to study the XB population of M31, the Andromeda galaxy, in detail. The resulting M31 sample will significantly advance our understanding of the evolutionary history of XBs, and ultimately allow us to probe the star formation history of stellar populations by X-ray observations.

The figure shows the XMM survey fields (green circles) and the previouskly known ROSAT X-ray sources (red dots; size indicates X-ray intensity) superimposed on an optical image of M31.

M31 © M. Watson & J. Osborne, Leicester

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Ulrich Kolb (U.C.Kolb@open.ac.uk)