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Description
We report the results of Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory observations of the GLIMPSE-C01 (hereafter GC01) star cluster. Color-magnitude and color-color diagrams suggest a cluster age of >~2Gyr up to ~10Gyr (dependent on GC01's metallicity), a distance of 3.3-3.5kpc, and strong differential reddening with A_V_=14-22. After performing astrometric corrections, we find that nine of the 15 X-ray sources have at least one near-infrared (NIR) counterpart within the 2{sigma} Chandra positional error circles. However, given the very high density of NIR sources in the cluster, most of these counterparts are likely due to chance coincidence. We jointly analyze the X-ray and NIR properties to assess the likelihood of true associations. Based primarily on their X-ray properties, we identify a low-mass X-ray binary candidate (source X2), a cataclysmic variable (CV) candidate (source X1), and an active binary (AB) candidate (source X9). Source X11 is detected during an X-ray flaring episode with a flare luminosity (L_X_=2.1x10^33^erg/s) and has a quiescent luminosity L_X_<8.0x10^30^erg/s, in 0.5-8keV at the distance of GC01, suggesting that the source is either an AB or CV. We also discuss the limits on an intermediate-mass black hole at the center of GC01 and the challenges of X-ray source classification imposed by the limitations of the existing data and instrumentation along with future prospects in the James Webb Space Telescope era.
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