Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21714220k&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #217, #142.20; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
We present an analysis of the western radio lobe of Fornax A based on an XMM-Newton observation. We find little evidence for the inverse-Compton scattering of the cosmic microwave background as reported previously. The spectra in the energy range of 0.5-5 keV are well fitted by a thermal plus power law model for every spectral region we extracted. With a fixed photon index of 1.68, the X-ray flux density at 1 keV from the power law fit was measured to be < 28 nJy at the 90% confidence level, leading to a lower limit on the magnetic field in this region of 6 micro-Gauss. Our spectral fits suggest that there is hot gas surrounding the radio lobe. A filament of dense, cool gas extends from the central galaxy in the direction of the radio lobe of Fornax A. Spectral fits give a temperature of kT=0.76 keV over the radio lobe and kT=0.32 keV for the cool filament. The thermal emission from the radio lobe region is best explained as emission from a thin shell of shocked gas swept up by the rapidly expanding lobe. This work is supported in part by the NSF REU and DOD ASSURE programs under NSF grant no. 0754568 and by the Smithsonian Institution.
Kong Jason J.
Kraft Ralph Porter
Nulsen Paul E. J.
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