Diffuse hot gas in nearby face-on spiral galaxies
Abstract
We present a study of the diffuse thermal emission in three nearby, face-on spiral galaxies, NGC 3631, NGC 628 and NGC 3184, using X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and optical data from the WIYN observatory. We are able to separate out the X-ray emission from unresolved point sources from the total unresolved emission in order to study the truly diffuse X-ray emission. We find that in all cases, the spectrum of the hot gas is well fit using a two thermal-component model. In the three galaxies, we find a strong correlation between the X-ray surface brightness and regions of star formation. We also estimate the electron density, pressure and cooling time of the hot gas, finding that the pressure of the hot gas in these three galaxies is higher than the ambient Milky Way pressure. In addition to the standard two temperature spectral model of the hot-gas emission from spiral galaxies, we show a model with the hot gas at a continuum of temperatures provides an equally good fit and a more physical description of the gas. Finally, we discuss the Chandra ACIS background and our method of spectrally modeling it. We also present plots of all our spectral fits to each galaxy and its sub-regions using our background model.
- Publication:
-
Ph.D. Thesis
- Pub Date:
- August 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007PhDT........19D
- Keywords:
-
- X-ray;
- Diffuse;
- Gas;
- NGC 3631;
- NGC 3184;
- NGC 628;
- Spiral galaxies;
- Diffuse thermal emission