Accreting Compact Objects in Technicolor: Multiwavelength Characterization of High Mass X-ray Binaries in the Local Group

Abstract

High mass X-ray binaries (HMXBS) are systems that contain a compact object (neutron star or black hole) that accretes mass from a massive stellar companion. HMXBs are highly observable due to their bright X-ray luminosities, making them an observational window into the complex process of massive binary stellar evolution. In this thesis I present work I have completed over the past six years to measure the population demographics of HMXBs in Local Group galaxies M31 and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and the spatially resolved recent star formation history (SFH) of M33. In M31, I used observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) to characterize the population of HMXBs in that galaxy and measure the overall HMXB production rate. In the SMC, I used NuSTAR observations to characterize the accreting compact objects in the detected HMXB systems. In M33 I use multi-band photometry to measure the spatially resolved recent SFH of M33 using color-magnitude diagram fitting. I discuss the results of my work in M31 and the SMC in the context of massive binary stellar evolution and previous studies of HMXB populations in the context of their host galaxies. For the spatially resolved recent SFH of M33, I discuss our measurements and their implications for the timescale of M33's large-scale morphological evolution.