Chandra compact binaries in 47 Tuc

A 70-kilosecond exposure of the cluster reveals a centrally concentrated population of faint (L_X_~10^30-33^ergs/s) X-ray sources, with at least 108 located within the central 2'x2.5' and >~half with L_X_<~10^30.5^ergs/s.

All 15 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) recently located precisely by radio observations are identified, though 2 are unresolved by Chandra. The X-ray spectral and temporal characteristics, as well as initial optical identifications with the Hubble Space Telescope, suggest that >~50 percent are MSPs, about 30 percent are accreting white dwarfs, about 15 percent are main-sequence binaries in flare outbursts, and only two to three are quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries containing neutron stars, the conventional progenitors of MSPs.