X‐Ray Processing of ChaMPlane Fields: Methods and Initial Results for Selected Anti–Galactic Center Fields

Abstract

We describe the X-ray analysis procedure of the ongoing Chandra Multiwavelength Plane (ChaMPlane) Survey and report the initial results from the analysis of 15 selected anti - Galactic center observations ( 90 degrees < l < 270 degrees). We describe the X-ray analysis procedures for ChaMPlane using custom-developed analysis tools appropriate for Galactic sources but also of general use: optimum photometry in crowded fields using advanced techniques for overlapping sources, rigorous astrometry and 95% error circles for combining X-ray images or matching to optical/ IR images, and application of quantile analysis for spectral analysis of faint sources. We apply these techniques to 15 anti - Galactic center observations ( of 14 distinct fields), in which we have detected 921 X-ray point sources. We present log N-log S distributions and quantile analysis to show that in the hard band ( 2 - 8 keV) active galactic nuclei dominate the sources. Complete analysis of all ChaMPlane anti-Galactic center fields will be given in a subsequent paper, followed by papers on sources in the Galactic center and bulge regions.