Temperature and Metallicity Gradients in the Hot Gas Outflows of M82

Abstract

Abstract We utilize deep Chandra X-ray Observatory imaging and spectra of M82, the prototype of a starbursting galaxy with a multiphase wind, to map the hot plasma properties along the minor axis of the galaxy. We extract spectra from 11 regions up to ±2.5 kpc from the starbursting midplane and model the data as a multitemperature, optically thin thermal plasma with contributions from a nonthermal (power-law) component and from charge exchange (CX). We examine the gradients in best-fit parameters, including the intrinsic column density, plasma temperature, metal abundances, and number density of the hot gas as a function of distance from the M82 nucleus. We find that the temperatures and number densities of the warm–hot and hot plasma peak at the starbursting ridge and decrease along the minor axis. The temperature and density profiles are inconsistent with spherical adiabatic expansion of a super-heated wind and suggest mass loading and mixing of the hot phase with colder material. Nonthermal emission is detected in all of the regions considered, and CX comprises 8%–25% of the total absorption-corrected, broadband (0.5–7 keV) X-ray flux. We show that the abundances of O, Ne, Mg, and Fe are roughly constant across the regions considered, while Si and S peak within 500 pc of the central starburst. These findings support a direct connection between the M82 superwind and the warm–hot, metal-rich circumgalactic medium (CGM).