XMM-Newton Observations of Extra-planar Gas in Nearby Starburst Galaxies
Abstract
We report on first results of XMM-Newton observations of nearby starburst galaxies that form part of a multi-wavelength study of gaseous halos around late-type spiral galaxies and their dependence on the level of star formation activity in the underlying disks.
XMM-Newton, with its extraordinary sensitivity for faint extended X-ray emission, is used to derive spatial and spectral properties of the very hot extra-planar/halo gas. For example, spectral models can be tested and hot gas properties like density, mass and energy can be estimated. Comparing the distribution of the halo X-ray emission with optical filaments and/or observed magnetic field structures uncovers interesting correlations on which work has just started. Our study aims - in general - at assessing the importance of galactic halos as repositories of a metal-enriched hot medium and their significance in terms of galactic chemical evolution and possible metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium. This work is based on observations obtained with XMM-Newton, an ESA science mission with instruments and contributions directly funded by ESA Member States and the USA (NASA).- Publication:
-
Extra-Planar Gas
- Pub Date:
- June 2005
- DOI:
- 10.48550/arXiv.astro-ph/0412286
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0412286
- Bibcode:
- 2005ASPC..331..337E
- Keywords:
-
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 8 pages, 5 figures, to appear in "Extra-planar Gas", ed. R. Braun, ASP Conf. Series, San Francisco