2006/10/24 by William G. Mathews, W. G. Mathews, Fabrizio Brighenti +8 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Elliptical galaxy #Fundamental plane (elliptical galaxies) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Halo #Lenticular galaxy #Luminosity #Physics #Virial mass #Virial theorem #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/509915
published as Astrophys.J.652:L17-L20,2006 · 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted by ApJ Letters
arxiv created 2006/10/24 · openalex publication_date 2006/11/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Optically similar elliptical galaxies have an enormous range of X-ray luminosities. We show that this range can be attributed to large variations in the dark halo mass M vir determined from X-ray observations. The K -band luminosity of ellipticals varies with virial mass, L K ∝ M , but with considerable scatter, probably due to the stochastic incidence of massive satellite galaxies that merge by dynamical friction to form group-centered ellipticals. Both the observed X-ray luminosity L X ∝ M and L X / L K ∝ M are sufficiently sensitive to the virial mass to explain the wide variation observed in L X among galaxies of similar L K . The central galaxy supernova energy per particle of diffuse gas increases dramatically with decreasing virial mass, and elliptical galaxies with the lowest X-ray luminosities (and M vir ) are easily explained by supernova-driven outflows.