X-ray luminous binaries, metallicity, and the early Universe

Abstract

High-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) may have had a significant impact on the heating of the intergalactic medium in the early Universe. Study of HMXBs in nearby, low-metallicity galaxies that are local analogues to early galaxies can help us understand early HMXBs. The total luminosity of HMXB populations is dominated by sources at high luminosities. These sources exhibit X-ray spectra that show curvature above 2 keV and the same is likely true of HMXB populations at high redshifts. The spectral curvature changes the K-correction for X-rays from HMXBs in a manner that weakens the constraints on X-ray emission of early HMXBs obtained from the soft X-ray background. Applied to deep X-ray surveys of starforming galaxies, the modified K-correction suggests a moderate increase in the ratio of X-ray luminosity to star formation rate at intermediate redshifts, z = 3-5, and is consistent with a large enhancement at high redshifts, z = 6-7. © 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.