4 research outputs found
Chandra observation of the central galaxies in A1060 cluster of galaxies
Chandra observation of the central region of the A1060 cluster of galaxies
resolved X-ray emission from two giant elliptical galaxies, NGC 3311 and NGC
3309. The emission from these galaxies consists of two components, namely the
hot interstellar medium (ISM) and the low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). We found
the spatial extent of the ISM component was much smaller than that of stars for
both galaxies, while the ratios of X-ray to optical blue-band luminosities were
rather low but within the general scatter for elliptical galaxies. After
subtracting the LMXB component, the ISM is shown to be in pressure balance with
the intracluster medium of A1060 at the outer boundary of the ISM. These
results imply that the hot gas supplied from stellar mass loss is confined by
the external pressure of the intracluster medium, with the thermal conduction
likely to be suppressed. The cD galaxy NGC 3311 does not exhibit the extended
potential structure which is commonly seen in bright elliptical galaxies, and
we discuss the possible evolution history of the very isothermal cluster A1060.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, Latex2e(emulateapj5), accepted in Ap
The Globular Cluster Systems around NGC 3311 and NGC 3309
We present extensive new photometry in (g',i') of the large globular cluster
(GC) system around NGC 3311, the central cD galaxy in the Hydra cluster. Our
GMOS data cover a 5.5' field of view and reach a limiting magnitude i' = 26,
about 0.5 magnitude fainter than the turnover point of the GC luminosity
function. We find that NGC 3311 has a huge population of ~16, 000 GCs, closely
similar to the prototypical high specific frequency Virgo giant M87. The
color-magnitude distribution shows that the metal-poor blue GC sequence and the
metal-richer red sequence are both present, with nearly equal numbers of
clusters. Bimodal fits to the color distributions confirm that the blue
sequence shows the same trend of progressively increasing metallicity with GC
mass that has previously been found in many other large galaxies; the
correlation we find corresponds to a scaling of GC metallicity with mass of Z ~
M^0.6 . By contrast, the red sequence shows no change of mean metallicity with
mass, but it shows an upward extension to much higher than normal luminosity
into the UCD-like range, strengthening the potential connections between
massive GCs and UCDs. The GC luminosity function, which we measure down to the
turnover point at M_I = -8.4, also has a normal form like those in other giant
ellipticals. Within the Hydra field, another giant elliptical NGC 3309 is
sitting just 100" from the cD NGC 3311. We use our data to solve simultaneously
for the spatial structure and total GC populations of both galaxies at once.
Their specific frequencies are S_N (NGC 3311) = 12.5 +/- 1.5 and S_N (NGC 3309)
= 0.6 +/-0.4. NGC 3311 is completely dominant and entirely comparable with
other cD-type systems such as M87 in Virgo.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures. Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal. Version
with higher resolution figures is available at
http://www.thewehners.net/astro/papers/wehner_n3311_highres.pd
X-ray Measurements of the Gravitational Potential Profile in the Central Region of the Abell 1060 Cluster of Galaxies
X-ray spectral and imaging data from ASCA and ROSAT were used to measure the
total mass profile in the central region of Abell 1060, a nearby and relatively
poor cluster of galaxies. The ASCA X-ray spectra, after correcting for the
spatial response of the X-ray telescope, show an isothermal distribution of the
intra-cluster medium (ICM) within at least 12' (or kpc;
km sMpc) in radius of the cluster center. The
azimuthally averaged surface brightness profile from the ROSAT PSPC exhibits a
central excess above an isothermal model. The ring-sorted ASCA GIS
spectra and the radial surface brightness distribution from the ROSAT PSPC were
simultaneously utilized to constrain the gravitational potential profile. Some
analytic models of the total mass density profile were examined. The ICM
density profile was also specified by analytic forms. The ICM temperature
distribution was constrained to satisfy the hydrostatic equilibrium, and to be
consistent with the data. Then, the total mass distribution was found to be
described better by the universal dark halo profile proposed by Navarro, Frenk,
and White (1996;1997) than by a King-type model with a flat density core. A
profile with a central cusp together with a logarithmic radial slope of was also consistent with the data. Discussions are made concerning the
estimated dark matter distribution around the cluster center.Comment: 32 pages. Accepted: ApJ 2000, 35 pages, Title was correcte