The X-ray emission in post-merger ellipticals

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Title: The X-ray emission in post-merger ellipticals
Author(s): O'Sullivan, Ewan; Forbes, Duncan A.; Ponman, Trevor
Abstract: The evolution in X-ray properties of early-type galaxies is largely unconstrained. In particular, little is known about how, and if, remnants of mergers generate hot gas haloes. Here we examine the relationship between X-ray luminosity and galaxy age for a sample of early-type galaxies. Comparing normalized X-ray luminosity to three different age indicators, we find that LXLB increases with age, suggesting an increase in X-ray halo mass with time after the last major star formation episode of a galaxy. The long-term nature of this trend, which appears to continue across the full age range of our sample, poses a challenge for many models of hot halo formation. We conclude that models involving a declining rate of type Ia supernovae, and a transition from outflow to inflow of the gas originally lost by galactic stars, offer the most promising explanation for the observed evolution in X-ray luminosity.
Publication type: Journal article
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology. School of Biophysical Science and Electrical Engineering. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
Source: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 324, no. 2 (June 2001), pp. 420-426
Publication year: 2001
Keyword(s): galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD; galaxies: evolution; galaxies: interactions; X-rays: galaxies
Publisher: Blackwell Science Ltd.
ISSN: 0035-8711
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04340.x
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