Buoyant AGN bubbles in the quasi-isothermal potential of NGC 1399

TL;DR

This study uses deep Chandra X-ray observations to analyze AGN-driven buoyant bubbles in NGC 1399, revealing their role in offsetting cooling and shaping the cluster's thermal structure.

Contribution

First detailed analysis of AGN bubbles in NGC 1399, demonstrating their effectiveness in preventing gas cooling in a low-mass galaxy cluster.

Findings

AGN bubbles lift gas comparable to cooling rates

Cool rims and filaments indicate buoyant bubble activity

Entropy profile is steeper than in massive clusters

Abstract

The Fornax Cluster is a low-mass cool-core galaxy cluster. We present a deep {\sl Chandra} study of NGC 1399, the central dominant elliptical galaxy of Fornax. The cluster center harbors two symmetric X-ray cavities coincident with a pair of radio lobes fed by two collimated jets along a north-south axis. A temperature map reveals that the AGN outburst has created a channel filled with cooler gas out to a radius of 10 kpc. The cavities are surrounded by cool bright rims and filaments that may have been lifted from smaller radii by the buoyant bubbles. X-ray imaging suggests a potential ghost bubble of $\gtrsim$ 5\,kpc diameter to the northwest. We find that the amount of gas lifted by AGN bubbles is comparable to that which would otherwise cool, demonstrating that AGN driven outflow is effective in offsetting cooling in low-mass clusters. The cluster cooling time scale is $>30$ times longer than the dynamical time scale, which is consistent with the lack of cold molecular gas at the cluster center. The X-ray hydrostatic mass is consistent within 10\% with the total mass derived from the optical data. The observed entropy profile rises linearly, following a steeper slope than that observed at the centers of massive clusters; gas shed by stars in NGC 1399 may be incorporated in the hot phase. However, it is far-fetched for supernova-driven outflow to produce and maintain the thermal distribution in NGC 1399 and it is in tension with the metal content in the hot gas.