Spatial Distribution of Abundance Patterns in the Starburst Galaxy NGC 3079 Revealed with Chandra and Suzaku

We performed simultaneous spectral analysis of 26.6 ksec of Chandra and 102.3 ksec of Suzaku X-ray data of the starburst galaxy NGC 3079. The spectra are extracted from four regions: 0.5' (2.25 kpc) circle, an inner 0.5'-1' (2.25--4.5 kpc) ring, and an outer 1'-2' (4.5--9 kpc) ring from Chandra, and 4' (18 kpc) circle from Suzaku, all centered on the nucleus. Fitting with thermal plasma models yields interstellar medium (ISM) temperatures of 0.65+0.05-0.04, 0.45+0.07-0.06, and 0.24+0.03-0.02 keV in the three regions, respectively. The combination of Chandra's high angular resolution and Suzaku's good spectral sensitivity enable us to spatially resolve and measure the abundances of the metals O, Ne, Mg, and Fe within the hot ISM. In particular, the abundance patterns of O/Fe, Ne/Fe, Mg/Fe, and Si/Fe in the central regions (<4.5 kpc) are consistent with the expectations from Supernovae (SN) II synthesis. On the other hand, the pattern in the region beyond 4.5 kpc is closer to solar. The central regions are also where copious polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon infrared emission related to recent starburst activity is known to occur. This suggests that we are seeing starburst-related SN II metal enrichment in the hot X-ray--emitting nuclear ISM. The spatial extent of the SN II--like abundance patterns is consistent with NGC 3079 being in a relatively-early phase of starburst activity.

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