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arXiv 1301.5907astro-ph.CO
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银河合并体NGC 6240的特殊软X射线光环

The Exceptional Soft X-ray Halo of the Galaxy Merger NGC 6240

Emanuele Nardini, Junfeng Wang, Giuseppina Fabbiano, Martin Elvis, Silvia Pellegrini, Guido Risaliti, Margarita Karovska, Andreas Zezas

摘要:

我们报告了最近~150-ks长的钱德拉观测的超亮红外星系合并NGC 6240,它允许一个详细的调查弥漫的星系晕。扩展的软X射线发射在3-sigma置信水平下在菱形区域上检测到,投影物理尺寸为~ 110 x80 kpc,并且单组分热模型提供了与观察到的X射线光谱的合理良好拟合。热气体的温度约为750万K,估计密度为2.5x10^{-3} cm^{-3},总质量约为10^10 M_sun,导致0.4-2.5 keV的固有光度为4x10^41 erg s^{-1}。0.65 keV的平均温度是相当高的,显然与系统的暗物质引力势的结合能或星系碰撞后的能量耗散和冲击有关,但空间分辨光谱分析显示整个晕的变化有限。主要α元素相对于铁的相对丰度是太阳值的几倍,并且几乎是恒定的,这意味着II型超新星在最大尺度上的均匀富集。总的来说,观测证据与最近的核恒星爆发所产生的超级风并不相容,而是暗示在整个动力学时间尺度(约2亿年)内,广泛的,增强的恒星形成以稳定的速度进行。最好的情况是,一个恒星爆发处理的气体成分轻轻地膨胀到,并混合,一个预先存在的低金属量(Z ~ 0.1太阳)和温度(kT ~ 0.25千电子伏)的晕介质。这张照片不能用现有的数据进行更广泛的探索,扩散的最终命运,热气体仍然不确定。在某些有利的条件下,在合并完成后,至少有一小部分可能会被保留下来,并演化成年轻椭圆星系的热晕。

英文摘要:

We report on a recent ~150-ks long Chandra observation of the ultraluminous infrared galaxy merger NGC 6240, which allows a detailed investigation of the diffuse galactic halo. Extended soft X-ray emission is detected at the 3-sigma confidence level over a diamond-shaped region with projected physical size of ~110x80 kpc, and a single-component thermal model provides a reasonably good fit to the observed X-ray spectrum. The hot gas has a temperature of ~7.5 million K, an estimated density of 2.5x10^{-3} cm^{-3}, and a total mass of ~10^10 M_sun, resulting in an intrinsic 0.4-2.5 keV luminosity of 4x10^41 erg s^{-1}. The average temperature of 0.65 keV is quite high to be obviously related to either the binding energy in the dark-matter gravitational potential of the system or the energy dissipation and shocks following the galactic collision, yet the spatially-resolved spectral analysis reveals limited variations across the halo. The relative abundance of the main alpha-elements with respect to iron is several times the solar value, and nearly constant as well, implying a uniform enrichment by type II supernovae out to the largest scales. Taken as a whole, the observational evidence is not compatible with a superwind originated by a recent, nuclear starburst, but rather hints at widespread, enhanced star formation proceeding at steady rate over the entire dynamical timescale (~200 Myr). The preferred scenario is that of a starburst-processed gas component gently expanding into, and mixing with, a pre-existing halo medium of lower metallicity (Z ~ 0.1 solar) and temperature (kT ~ 0.25 keV). This picture cannot be probed more extensively with the present data, and the ultimate fate of the diffuse, hot gas remains uncertain. Under some favorable conditions, at least a fraction of it might be retained after the merger completion, and evolve into the hot halo of a young elliptical galaxy.

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