A Possible Model of Persistent X-Ray-luminous Gas around the Giant Elliptical Galaxy M87

Details A Possible Model of Persistent X-Ray-luminous Gas around the Giant Elliptical Galaxy M87 A Possible Model of Persistent X-Ray-luminous Gas around the Giant Elliptical Galaxy M87

Jul 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999apj...519...48s&link_type=abstract

The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 519, Issue 1, pp. 48-54.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

7

Conduction, Galaxies: Elliptical And Lenticular, Cd, Galaxies: Ism, Hydrodynamics, X-Rays: Galaxies

Scientific paper

We have investigated, through spherically symmetric hydrodynamical simulation, whether thermal conduction together with stellar activities (mass loss and Type Ia supernovae) can stabilize the X-ray-emitting gas near the center of elliptical galaxies. The configurations of the gas are divided into two distinct states, depending on the amount of intracluster gas surrounding the galaxy and the stellar mass-loss rate in the galaxy. One is a state of thermal balance between the radiative cooling and thermal conduction that can persist for more than 10 Gyr. The gas reaches nearly hydrostatic equilibrium in the galactic potential, with the gas density declining as r^-1. The X-ray luminosity can be as bright as that observed in M87, depending on the initial intracluster gas densities. Subsolar Fe abundance of the gas is expected. The other state results in a cooling catastrophe near the center on a timescale of 10^7-10^8 yr owing to radiative cooling. This catastrophe arises when (1) the initial intracluster gas density is so low that the thermal energy in the intracluster gas is too low to carry enough energy inward and (2) the stellar mass-loss rate or the initial intracluster gas density is so large that the timescale of cooling outweighs that of conduction.

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