Discovery of a very extended X-ray halo around a quiescent spiral galaxy - the "missing link" of galaxy formation

Simple item page
dc.creatorPedersen, Kristian
dc.creatorRasmussen, Jesper
dc.creatorSommer-Larsen, Jesper
dc.creatorToft, Sune
dc.creatorBenson, Andrew J.
dc.creatorBower, Richard G.
dc.date2005-11-23
dc.date2006-01-13
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T06:45:19Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T06:45:19Z
dc.descriptionHot gaseous haloes surrounding galaxies and extending well beyond the distribution of stars are a ubiquitous prediction of galaxy formation scenarios. The haloes are believed to consist of gravitationally trapped gas with a temperature of millions of Kelvin. The existence of such hot haloes around massive elliptical galaxies has been established through their X-ray emission. While gas out-flowing from starburst spiral galaxies has been detected, searches for hot haloes around normal, quiescent spiral galaxies have so far failed, casting doubts on the fundamental physics in galaxy formation models. Here we present the first detection of a hot, large-scale gaseous halo surrounding a normal, quiescent spiral galaxy, NGC 5746, alleviating a long-standing problem for galaxy formation models. In contrast to starburst galaxies, where the X-ray halo can be powered by the supernova energy, there is no such power source in NGC 5746. The only compelling explanation is that we are here witnessing a galaxy forming from gradually in-flowing hot and dilute halo gas.
dc.descriptionNew Astronomy, in press
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0511682
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0511682
dc.identifierNew Astron. 11 (2006) 465-470
dc.identifierdoi:10.1016/j.newast.2005.11.004
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/103014
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleDiscovery of a very extended X-ray halo around a quiescent spiral galaxy - the "missing link" of galaxy formation
dc.typetext

Files

Collections

arXiv