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 on-going Chandra Multiwavelength Plane (ChaMPlane) survey and report the initial results from the analysis of 15 selected anti-Galactic center observations (90 deg < l < 270 deg). 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 logN-logS 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.