A Hot Core in the Group-dominant Elliptical Galaxy NGC 777

Abstract

NGC 777 provides an example of a phenomenon observed in some group-central ellipticals, in which the temperature profile shows a central peak, despite the short central cooling time of the intragroup medium. We use deep Chandra X-ray observations of the galaxy, supported by uGMRT 400 MHz radio imaging, to investigate the origin of this hot core. We confirm the centrally peaked temperature profile and find that the entropy and cooling time both monotonically decline to low values (2.62 −0.18+0.19 keV cm2 and 71.3−13.1+12.8 Myr, respectively) in the central ∼700 pc. Faint diffuse radio emission surrounds the nuclear point source, with no clear jets or lobes but extending to ∼10 kpc on the northwest–southeast axis. This alignment and extent agree well with a previously identified filamentary Hα + [N ii] nebula. While cavities are not firmly detected, we see X-ray surface brightness decrements on the same axis at 10–20 kpc radii, which are consistent with the intragroup medium having been pushed aside by expanding radio lobes. Any such outburst must have occurred long enough ago for lobe emission to have faded below detectability. Cavities on this scale would be capable of balancing radiative cooling for at least ∼240 Myr. We consider possible causes of the centrally peaked temperature profile, including gravitational heating of gas as the halo relaxes after a period of active galactic nucleus jet activity, and heating by particles leaking from the remnant relativistic plasma of the old radio jets.