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arXiv · astro-ph/0107461

ROSAT PSPC observations of nearby spiral galaxies - II. Statistical properties

Abstract

We present a statistical analysis of the largest X-ray survey of nearby spiral galaxies in which diffuse emission has been separated from discrete source contributions. Regression and rank-order correlation analyses are used to compare X-ray properties such as total, source and diffuse luminosities, and diffuse emission temperature, with a variety of physical and multi-wavelength properties, such as galaxy mass, type and activity, and optical and infrared luminosity. The results are discussed in terms of the way in which hot gas and discrete X-ray sources scale with the mass and activity of galaxies, and with the star formation rate. We find that the X-ray properties of starburst galaxies are dependent primarily on their star-forming activity, whilst for more quiescent galaxies, galaxy mass is the more important parameter. One of the most intriguing results is the tight linear scaling between far-infrared and diffuse X-ray luminosity across the sample, even though the hot gas changes from a hydrostatic corona to a free wind across the activity range sampled here.

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BibTeXRIS

A. M. Read, T. J. Ponman. 2001-07-24. ROSAT PSPC observations of nearby spiral galaxies - II. Statistical properties. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04848.x

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