X-ray Emission from Star-Forming Galaxies and their SuperEddington SourcesSSC_27

GT We propose to observe with EPIC a sample of nearby starbursts includinggiant extragalactic HII regions and HII galaxies that have previously beenstudied at various wavelengths and have been detected with ROSAT. The aim of theobservations is to determine temperature and metallicity of the diffuse gas, andto investigate the contribution of SNRs and accreting binaries to the emissionin the 0.210 keV range. These quantities will be studied in conjunction withother important properties like morphology, (starburst) age and metallicity. Oneimportant aspect will be a spectral and variability study of a sample ofsuperEddington sources in these galaxies that in some cases dominate the Xrayoutput. To this end, we ask for repeated observations of our targets. truncated!, Please see actual data for full text [truncated!, Please see actual data for full text]