Previous studies of merging spiral galaxies reveal that the hot ISM is expelledfrom the system at the point of nuclear merger. After 1 Gyr the merger remnantappears to have little or no hot gas halo. Yet normal, old ellipticals clearlyhave extensive hot halos. This proposal aims to solve this mystery. In parti-cular, do merger remnants become more X-ray luminous over time or do mergerscreate a low Lx elliptical. There is very little X-ray data for post merger rem-nants with ages of 1-3 Gyrs. This timescale appears to be the crucial .turningpoint. in their X-ray properties. We propose to image such a sample with the PN.This will provide a key consistency check of the merger hypothesis and will con-strain the different possible mechanisms for hot halo regeneration.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2001-11-13T19:43:35Z/2002-04-27T16:40:31Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Dr Trevor Ponman, 2003, 'Post-Merger Galaxies and the Generation of Hot Halos in Ellipticals', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-khii2lt
