XMM-Newton Detects a Hot Gaseous Halo in the Fastest Rotating Spiral Galaxy UGC 12591

TL;DR

This study uses XMM-Newton observations to detect and analyze the hot gaseous halo of the fastest rotating spiral galaxy UGC 12591, revealing a small baryon fraction and implications for galaxy formation and missing baryons.

Contribution

First detection of a hot gas halo in UGC 12591 with detailed measurements constraining its properties and baryon content, challenging existing models of baryon distribution in spiral galaxies.

Findings

Hot gas halo detected out to 110 kpc

Halo gas mass less than 3.5e11 solar masses

Baryon fraction of 0.03-0.04, indicating 75% missing baryons

Abstract

We present our XMM-Newton observation of the fastest rotating spiral galaxy UGC 12591. We detect hot gas halo emission out to 110 kpc from the galaxy center, and constrain the halo gas mass to be smaller than 3.5e11 solar masses. We also measure the temperature of the hot gas as T=0.64\pm0.03 keV. Combining our X-ray constraints and the near-infrared and radio measurements in the literature, we find a baryon mass fraction of 0.03-0.04 in UGC 12591, suggesting a missing baryon mass of 75% compared with the cosmological mean value. Combined with another recent measurement in NGC 1961, the result strongly argues that the majority of missing baryons in spiral galaxies does not reside in their hot halos. We also find that UGC 12591 lies significantly below the baryonic Tully-Fisher relationship. Finally, we find that the baryon fractions of massive spiral galaxies are similar to those of galaxy groups with similar masses, indicating that the baryon loss is ultimately controlled by the gravitational potential well. The cooling radius of this gas halo is small, similar to NGC 1961, which argues that the majority of stellar mass of this galaxy is not assembled as a result of cooling of this gas halo.