Investigating early-type galaxy evolution with a multiwavelength approach - I. X-ray properties of 12 galaxies observed with Swift and XMM-Newton

We report here the results from the X-ray observations of 12 early-type galaxies (ETGs) observed with Swift and XMM-Newton, originally selected from a sample of galaxies with Spitzer and/or GALEX data. With the combined analysis of new X-ray and optical-UV observations and of previously available data from archives, we aim at investigating the relation between X-ray luminosity and evolutionary phases of ETGs. We will interpret the results with the additional aid of smoothed particle hydrodynamics chemo-photometric simulations. All galaxies have been detected in the X-ray band, with luminosities L_x > 10³⁹ erg s^-1. X-ray emitting gas has been detected in about half of the sample, with luminosities from ≥10³⁹ to 10⁴⁰ erg s^-1. UVOT images show a variety of morphologies, from absence of peculiar features relative to optical wavelengths typical of red and dead early-types, to well defined almost circular rings clearly emerging in the U band, to more spectacular and complex features connected to recent or even ongoing star formation (SF). We find little evidence of any influence of the SF activity on their global X-ray properties, and in particular, on the luminosity-weighted age of the system, usually estimated in the nuclear region. However, with the present data we cannot exclude that such a relation exists on smaller scales, related to the specific sites where we see evidence of newly formed stars, such as outer rings and arcs and peculiar features observed in UV images.