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Description
Using the Chandra Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer Imaging array (ACIS-I), the authors carried out a deep hard X-ray observation of the Galactic plane region at a location (l, b) ~ (28.5 degrees, 0.0 degrees), where no discrete X-ray source had been reported previously. They detected 274 new point X-ray sources (4-sigma or greater confidence in any of the 3 energy bands 0.5 - 3.0 keV, 3.0 - 8.0 keV or 0.5 - 8.0 keV), as well as strong Galactic diffuse emission within two partially overlapping ACIS-I fields (~ 250 square arcminutes in total). The point-source sensitivity was ~ 3 x 10<sup>-15</sup> ergs/s/cm<sup>2</sup> in the 2 - 10 keV band and ~ 2 x 10<sup>-16</sup> erg/s/cm<sup>2</sup> in the 0.5 - 2 keV band The sum of all the detected point-source fluxes accounts for only ~ 10% of the total X-ray flux in the field of view. Only 26 point sources were detected in both the soft and hard bands, indicating that there are two distinct classes of X-ray source distinguished by their spectral hardness ratios. The surface number density of the hard sources is only slightly higher than that measured in high Galactic latitude regions, indicating that the majority of the hard sources are background AGNs. Following up the Chandra observation, the authors performed a near-infrared (NIR) survey with SofI at ESO/NTT. Almost all the soft X-ray sources have been identified in the NIR, and their spectral types are consistent with main-sequence stars, suggesting that most of them are nearby X-ray-active stars. On the other hand, only 22% of the hard sources had near-IR counterparts, which are presumably Galactic. From X-ray and near-IR spectral study, they are most likely to be quiescent cataclysmic variables. This Browse table was created by the HEASARC in December 2006 based on <a href="https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/ftp/cats/J/ApJ/635/214/">CDS Catalog J/ApJ/635/214/</a>, the file table1.dat. This is a service provided by NASA HEASARC .
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