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We report the discovery of a very young high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) system associated with the supernova remnant (SNR) MCSNR J0513-6724 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), using XMM–Newton X-ray observations. The HMXB is located at the geometrical centre of extended soft X-ray emission, which we confirm as an SNR. The HMXB spectrum is consistent with an absorbed power law with spectral index ∼1.6 and a luminosity of 7 × 1033 erg s−1 (0.2–12 keV). Tentative X-ray pulsations are observed with a periodicity of 4.4 s and the OGLE I -band light curve of the optical counterpart from more than 17.5 yr reveals a period of 2.2324 ± 0.0003 d, which we interpret as the orbital period of the binary system. The X-ray spectrum of the SNR is consistent with non-equilibrium shock models as expected for young/less evolved SNRs. From the derived ionization time-scale we estimate the age of the SNR to be <6 kyr. The association of the HMXB with the SNR makes it the youngest HMXB, in the earliest evolutionary stage known to date. An HMXB as young as this can switch on as an accreting pulsar only when the spin period has reached a critical value. Under this assumption, we obtain an upper limit to the magnetic field of <5 × 1011 G. This implies several interesting possibilities including magnetic field burial, possibly by an episode of post-supernova hyper-critical accretion. Since these fields are expected to diffuse out on a time-scale of 103–104 yr, the discovery of a very young HMXB can provide us the unique opportunity to observe the evolution of the observable magnetic field for the first time in X-ray binaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-ray diagnostics of TeV (teraelectronvolt) sources continues to be an important tool to identify the nature of newly detected sources as well as to pinpoint the physics processes that are at work in these highly energetic objects. This paper gives a review of recent studies that have been performed on TeV sources with H.E.S.S. and XMM-Newton and also other X-ray facilities. Here, we mainly focus on the galactic object types γ-ray binaries and supernova remnants (SNRs). γ-ray binaries form a small class of objects whose identification and study is challenging because of the sometimes very long orbital periods that need to be established from data. Particular emphasis is given to SNR studies, including recently identified SNRs such as HESS J1731-347 and HESS J1534-571, as well as a revisit of RX J1713.7-3946. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The population of the Galactic X-ray binaries has been mostly probed with moderately sensitive hard X-ray surveys so far. The eRosita mission will provide for the first time a sensitive all-sky X-ray survey in the 2-10 keV energy range, where the X-ray binaries emit most of the flux and discover the still unobserved low-luminosity population of these objects. In this paper, we briefly review the current constraints for the X-ray luminosity functions of high- and low-mass X-ray binaries and present our own analysis based the INTEGRAL 9-year Galactic survey, which yields improved constraints. Based on these results, we estimate the number of new XRBs to be detected in the eRosita all-sky survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. The galaxy NGC 1512 is interacting with the smaller galaxy NGC 1510 and shows a peculiar morphology, characterised by two extended arms immersed in an HI disc whose size is about four times larger than the optical diameter of NGC 1512. Aims. For the first time we performed a deep X-ray observation of the galaxies NGC 1512 and NGC 1510 with XMM-Newton to gain information on the population of X-ray sources and diffuse emission in a system of interacting galaxies. Methods. We identified and classified the sources detected in the XMM-Newton field of view by means of spectral analysis, hardness-ratios calculated with a Bayesian method, X-ray variability, and cross-correlations with catalogues in optical, infrared, and radio wavelengths. We also made use of archival Swift (X-ray) and Australia Telescope Compact Array (radio) data to better constrain the nature of the sources detected with XMM-Newton. Results. We detected 106 sources in the energy range of 0.2−12 keV, out of which 15 are located within the D25 regions of NGC 1512 and NGC 1510 and at least six sources coincide with the extended arms. We identified and classified six background objects and six foreground stars. We discussed the nature of a source within the D25 ellipse of NGC 1512, whose properties indicate a quasi-stellar object or an intermediate ultra-luminous X-ray source. Taking into account the contribution of low-mass X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei, the number of high-mass X-ray binaries detected within the D25 region of NGC 1512 is consistent with the star formation rate obtained in previous works based on radio, infrared optical, and UV wavelengths. We detected diffuse X-ray emission from the interior region of NGC 1512 with a plasma temperature of kT = 0.68 (0.31−0.87) keV and a 0.3–10 keV X-ray luminosity of 1.3 × 1038 erg s-1, after correcting for unresolved discrete sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]