December 14, 2005

Hot, Massive Haloes Found Around Most Spiral Galaxies

ESA -- Astronomers using ESA's XMM-Newton observatory have found very hot gaseous haloes around a multitude of spiral galaxies similar to our Milky Way galaxy. These 'ghost-like' veils have been suspected for decades but remained elusive until now.
Galaxy 'haloes' are often seen in so-called 'starburst' galaxies, the locations of concentrated star formation, but the discovery of high-temperature haloes around non-starburst spiral galaxies opens the door to new types of measurements once only dreamed about.

For example, scientists can confirm models of galaxy evolution and infer the star-formation rate in galaxies like our own by 'calculating backwards' to estimate how many supernovae are needed to make the observed haloes.

"Most of these ghost-like haloes have never been confirmed before in X-ray energies because they are so tenuous and have a low-surface brightness," said Ralph Tllmann, from the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, lead author of the results.



So how can haloes form in the absence of intense star formation? Tllmann's group say that the entire disk of a spiral galaxy can 'simmer' with star-formation activity. This is spread out over time and distance. Like a giant pot of boiling water, the steady activity of star formation over millions and millions of years percolates outward to form the galaxy halo.



"With our data we will be able to establish for the first time a critical rate of star formation that needs to be exceeded in order to create such haloes," said Dr Ralf-Jrgen Dettmar, a co-author also from Ruhr University.

Once these haloes have formed, the hot gas cools and can fall down onto the galaxy's disk, the scientists said. The gas is involved in a new cycle of star formation, because pressure from this infalling gas triggers the collapse of gas clouds into new stars.




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