1998/03/18 by David A. Buote, C. R. Canizares, Claude R. Canizares · 4 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Statistical and numerical algorithms #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.01663.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 298 (1998) 811 · 14 pages (6 figures), To Appear in MNRAS
arxiv created 1998/03/18 · openalex publication_date 1998/08/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present an analysis of the shape and radial mass distribution of the E4 galaxy NGC 3923 using archival X-ray data from the ROSAT PSPC and HRI. The X-ray isophotes are significantly elongated with ellipticity εx = 0.15 (0.09–0.21) (90 per cent confidence) for semimajor axis a ∼ 10 h−170 kpc and have position angles aligned with the optical isophotes within the estimated uncertainties. Applying the Geometric Test for dark matter, which is independent of the gas temperature profile, we find that the ellipticities of the PSPC isophotes exceed those predicted if M ∝ L at a marginal significance level of 85 per cent (80 per cent) for oblate (prolate) symmetry. Detailed hydrostatic models of an isothermal gas yield ellipticities for the gravitating matter, εmass = 0.35–0.66 (90 per cent confidence), which exceed the intensity-weighted ellipticity of the R-band optical light, 〈εR〉 = 0.30 (εmaxR = 0.39). We conclude that mass density profiles with ρ ∼ r−2 are favoured over steeper profiles if the gas is essentially isothermal (which is suggested by the PSPC spectrum) and the surface brightness in the central regions (r≲15 arcsec) is not modified substantially by a multiphase cooling flow, magnetic fields, or discrete sources. We argue that these effects are unlikely to be important for NGC 3923. (The derived εmass range is very insensitive to these issues.) Our spatial analysis also indicates that the allowed contribution to the ROSAT emission from a population of discrete sources with Σx ∝ ΣR is significantly less than that indicated by the hard spectral component measured by ASCA.