Accreting Black Holes and Neutron Stars in the Milky Way

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Andrea Santangelo; Professor Dr. Jörn Wilms
• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 414059771

The purpose of the continuation is to extend the search and analysis of X-ray binary candidates where the compact object is a neutron star or a black hole to the whole eROSITA survey data that are available, which is a factor ~4 deeper in exposure time compared to the analysis performed so far. The continuation of the project will help in identifying and characterizing further X-ray binary candidates (including follow-up observations of these sources with other instruments), it will help us to further refine the X-ray luminosity function of the Galaxy, model the space and time density of the detected XRBs (i.e., take into account source variability in the construction of the XLF), and put the measured XLF in the context of the measured XRB population of nearby galaxies and of theoretical XLFs determined using binary evolution modeling.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 2990: The eROSITA View of Stellar Endpoints (eRO-STEP)
• Co-Investigators: Professorin Maria-Rosa Cioni, Ph.D.; Dr. Victor Doroshenko; Dr. Frank Haberl