Abstract
We have conducted Chandra observations of ~900 square arcmin (~46 kpc2) of M31, and find that the most luminous X-ray sources in most of our fields are in globular clusters (GCs). Of the 30 GC X-ray sources in our fields, 17 are newly discovered. Approximately 1/3 of all the sources have Lx([0.5-7] keV) > 1037 ergs s-1; approximately 1/10 of all the sources have Lx([0.5-7] keV) close to or above 1038 ergs s-1. The most luminous source, in the globular cluster Bo 375, is consistently observed to have Lx greater than 2× 1038 ergs s-1. In this talk we: (1) describe the data, (2) consider models that might apply to the highly luminous GC sources in M31: are the sources composites? are they accreting black holes? is the radiation beamed? (3) explore the reasons why GCs in M31 house a population of X-ray sources that outshine those of our own Galaxy. Our results on M31 GCs have implications that will help us to better model the processes that produce X-ray binaries in the GCs of our own and other galaxies. They suggest clues to the relationships between a galaxy's characteristics and history and the X-ray binary population of its GCs. In this sense, M31's GCs provide a bridge between the Milky Way's GC system and the GC systems of other galaxies.