The SLUGGS Survey: revisiting the correlation between X-ray luminosity and total mass of massive early-type galaxies

Abstract

Here we utilise recent measures of galaxy total dynamical mass and X-ray gas luminosities (L${}_{X,Gas}$) for a sample of 29 massive early-type galaxies from the SLUGGS survey to probe L${}_{X,Gas}$--mass scaling relations. In particular, we investigate scalings with stellar mass, dynamical mass within 5 effective radii (R${}_e$) and total virial mass. We also compare these relations with predictions from $\Lambda$CDM simulations. We find a strong linear relationship between L${}_{X,Gas}$ and galaxy dynamical mass within 5 R${}_e$, which is consistent with the recent cosmological simulations of Choi et al. that incorporate mechanical heating from AGN. We conclude that the gas surrounding massive early-type galaxies was shock heated as it fell into collapsing dark matter halos so that L${}_{X,Gas}$ is primarily driven by the depth of a galaxy's potential well. Heating by an AGN plays an important secondary role in determining L${}_{X,Gas}$.

5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters

References in corpus (8)

• Heating Hot Atmospheres with Active Galactic Nuclei
• The SAGES Legacy Unifying Globulars and GalaxieS Survey (SLUGGS): Sample definition, methods, and initial results
• X-ray coronae in simulations of disc galaxy formation
• The impact of mechanical AGN feedback on the formation of massive early-type galaxies
• The Hot Gas Content of Low-Luminosity Early-Type Galaxies and the Implications Regarding Supernova Heating and AGN Feedback
• Constraining the Nature of X-ray Cavities in Clusters and Galaxies
• Large scatter in X-ray emission among elliptical galaxies: correlations with mass of host halo
• Joint XMM-Newton and Chandra Observations of the NGC 1407/1400 Complex: a Tail of an Early-Type Galaxy and a Tale of a Nearby Merging Group

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Hot Atmospheres, Cold Gas, AGN Feedback and the Evolution of Early Type Galaxies: a Topical Perspective
• The hot circumgalactic medium in the eROSITA All-Sky Survey III. Star-forming and quiescent galaxies
• The Stellar Age Dependence of X-ray Emission from Normal Star-Forming Galaxies in the GOODS Fields
• Measuring Dark Matter in Galaxies: The Mass Fraction Within 5 Effective Radii
• The mass profile of NGC 3377 from a Bayesian approach
• Connections between Central Intensity Ratio and hot gas properties of early-type galaxies