The Unusual X-ray Morphology of NGC 4636: Off-center Outbursts, Shocks and Gas 'sloshing' Revealed by Deep Chandra and XMM-Newton Observations

Details The Unusual X-ray Morphology of NGC 4636: Off-center Outbursts, Shocks and Gas 'sloshing' Revealed by Deep Chandra and XMM-Newton Observations The Unusual X-ray Morphology of NGC 4636: Off-center Outbursts, Shocks and Gas 'sloshing' Revealed by Deep Chandra and XMM-Newton Observations

Mar 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008head...10.2909b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #10, #29.09

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

We present Chandra ACIS-I and ACIS-S observations ( 200ks in total) of the X-ray luminous elliptical galaxy NGC 4636, located in the outskirts of the Virgo cluster.
A soft band (0.5-2 keV) image shows the presence of a bright core in the center surrounded by an extended X-ray halo and two outstanding quasi-symmetric, 8 kpc long, arm-like features, both of which are associated with ellipsoidal bubbles.
We present surface brightness and temperature profiles along these bubbles, showing that their edges are sharp and characterized by the presence of temperature jumps of about 20-25%. Through a comparison of the observed profiles with theoretical shock models, we demonstrate that a scenario where the bubbles were produced by shocks, probably driven by energy deposited off-center by jets, is the most viable explanation to the X-ray morphology observed in the central part of NGC 4636.
In addition, a clear surface brightness edge is observed 5' SW of the center of NGC4636, with a surface brightness decrease of 30%. The analysis of the Chandra data, complemented with a 50ks EPIC XMM-Newton observation, shows a projected temperature rise of 25-30% across the edge. The most likely scenario for this feature involves "sloshing" of colder metal-rich ISM within the warmer group medium.

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