2012ApJ...758...15B

We present the source catalog of a new Chandra ACIS-I observation of NGC 300 obtained as part of the Chandra Local Volume Survey. Our 63 ks exposure covers ∼88% of the D₂₅ isophote (R ~ 6.3 kpc) and yields a catalog of 95 X-ray point sources detected at high significance to a limiting unabsorbed 0.35-8 keV luminosity of ∼10³⁶ erg/s. Sources were cross-correlated with a previous XMM-Newton catalog, and we find 75 "X-ray transient candidate" sources that were detected by one observatory, but not the other. We derive an X-ray scale length of 1.7±0.2 kpc and a recent star formation rate of 0.12 M_☉/yr in excellent agreement with optical observations. Deep, multi-color imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope, covering ∼32% of our Chandra field, was used to search for optical counterparts to the X-ray sources, and we have developed a new source classification scheme to determine which sources are likely X-ray binaries, supernova remnants, and background active galactic nucleus candidates. Finally, we present the X-ray luminosity functions (XLFs) at different X-ray energies, and we find the total NGC 300 X-ray point-source population to be consistent with other late-type galaxies hosting young stellar populations ( ≲ 50 Myr). We find that XLF of sources associated with older stellar populations has a steeper slope than the XLF of X-ray sources coinciding with young stellar populations, consistent with theoretical predictions.