W. Pietsch et al., X-ray observations of the starburst galaxy NGC 253 II. Extended emission from hot gas in the nuclear area, disk, and halo, ASTRON ASTR, 360(1), 2000, pp. 24-48
Spatial and spectral analysis of deep ROSAT HRI and PSPC observations of th
e near edge-on starburst galaxy NGC 253 reveal diffuse soft X-ray emission,
which contributes 80% to its total X-ray luminosity (L-X = 5 10(39) ergs(-
1), corrected for foreground absorption). The nuclear area, disk, and halo
contribution to the luminosity is about equal. The starburst nucleus itself
is highly absorbed and not visible in the ROSAT band.
The emission from the nuclear area stems from a heavily absorbed source wit
h an extent of 250 pc (FWHM) about 100 pc above the nucleus along the SE mi
nor axis ("nuclear source", X34), and the "X-ray plume". The nuclear source
is best described as having a thermal bremsstrahlung spectrum with a tempe
rature of T = 1.2 keV (N-H = 3 10(21) cm(-2)) and L-X(exgal) = 3 10(38) erg
s(-1) (corrected for Galactic foreground absorption). The spectrum of the h
ollow-cone shaped plume (opening angle of 32 degrees and extent of similar
to 700 pc along the SE minor axis) is best modeled by a composite of a ther
mal bremsstrahlung (N-H = 310(20) cm(-2), T = 1.2keV, L-X(exgal) = 4.610(38
) ergs(-1)) and a thin thermal plasma (Galactic foreground absorption, T =
0.33 keV, L-X(exgal) = 4 10(38) erg s(-1)). The diffuse nuclear emission co
mponents trace interactions between the galactic superwind emitted by the s
tarburst nucleus, and the dense interstellar medium of the disk.
Diffuse emission from the disk is heavily absorbed and follows the spiral s
tructure. It can be described by a thin thermal plasma spectrum (T = 0.7 ke
V, intrinsic luminosity L-X(intr) = 1.2 10(39) erg s(-1)), and most likely
reflects a mixture of sources (X-ray binaries, supernova remnants, and emis
sion from H II regions) and the hot interstellar medium. The surface bright
ness profile reveals a bright inner and a fainter outer component along the
major axis with extents of +/-3.4 kpc and 17.5 kpc.
We analysed the total halo emission separated into two geometrical areas; t
he "corona" (scale height similar to 1 kpc) and the "outer halo". The coron
al emission (T = 0.2keV, L-X(intr) = 7.8 1038 erg s(-1)) is only detected f
rom the near side of the disk (in the SE), emission from the back (in the N
W) is shadowed by the intervening interstellar medium unambiguously deter-m
ining the orientation of NGC 253 in space. Tn the NW we see the near edge o
f the disk is seen, but the far component of the halo, and vice versa in th
e SE. The emission in the outer halo can be traced to projected distances f
rom the disk of 9 kpc, and shows a horn-like structure. Luminosities are hi
gher (10 and 5 10(38) ergs(-1), respectively) and spectra harder in the NW
halo than in the SE. The emission in the corona and outer halo is most like
ly caused by a strong galactic wind emanating from the starburst nucleus. A
s an additional contribution to the coronal emission floating on the disk l
ike a spectacle-glass, we propose hot gas fueled from galactic fountains or
iginating within the boiling star-forming disk. A two temperature thermal p
lasma model with temperatures of 0.13 and 0.62 keV or a thin thermal plasma
model with temperature of 0.15 keV and Gaussian components above 0.7 keV a
nd Galactic foreground absorption are needed to arrive at acceptable fits f
or the NW halo. This may be explained by starburst-driven super-winds or by
effects of a non-equilibrium cooling function in a plasma expanding in fou
ntains or winds.
We compare our results to observations at other wavelengths and from other
galaxies.