# The Effect of Environment on the X-Ray Emission from Early-Type Galaxies

## 1 Introduction

There are two primary sources for the X-ray luminosity of early-type galaxies, emission from stellar sources and optically thin radiation from a hot dilute interstellar medium (e.g., Fabbiano 1989). For the more luminous X-ray emitting ellipticals, there is little doubt that emission from hot interstellar gas is the dominant mechanism. To explain the behavior of the X-ray emission from hot gas, cooling flow models were developed, and had a number of successes. In the standard model, gas that is shed by stars is converted into hot gas with a temperature corresponding to the velocity dispersion of the stars. Radiative losses of the gas cause it to fall inward into the galaxy, releasing additional gravitational energy. This model is able to account for the observed magnitude of the X-ray luminosity, it can reproduce the X-ray surface brightness distribution, and it predicts a correlation between $`L_X`$ and $`L_B`$. However, there are a few important discrepancies between theory and observation. The predicted slope of $`L_X`$$`L_B`$ relationship (approximately $`L_XL_B^m`$, where $`m=1.6`$–1.8) is not as steep as the observational relationship obtained using Einstein Observatory data, where $`m=1.7`$–2.4. More recent work by Brown & Bregman (1998) and Irwin & Sarazin (1998) find the slope to be about 2.7, from ROSAT data, in clear disagreement with the steady-state cooling flow model. Another important discrepancy is the extremely large dispersion about the relationship, about two orders of magnitude in $`L_X`$ at fixed $`L_B`$, first discovered in Einstein Observatory data (Canizares, Fabbiano, & Trinchieri 1987) and confirmed with the ROSAT sample (White & Davis 1997; Brown & Bregman 1998).

There have been a few explanations for the cause of the large dispersion in $`L_X`$, which is either attributed to the internal properties of the galaxy or to the external influences of the environment. D’Ercole et al. (1989) suggested that slight differences in the structure of a galaxy could lead to widely variant X-ray luminosities at fixed optical luminosity. However, this result occurs for a particular form of the supernova rate as a function of cosmic time, which may not be likely (Loewenstein & Mathews 1991). Other models that include the effects of supernova heating and galactic winds do not predict a large dispersion in $`L_X`$ at the current epoch (David, Forman, & Jones 1991; Loewenstein & Mathews 1987; Vedder, Trester, & Canizares 1988).

Environmental effects are becoming more widely understood to have a significant, if not central influence on the X-ray properties of a galaxy. One effect is stripping of gas from a galaxy as it passes through the ambient cluster medium (Takeda, Nulsen, & Fabian 1984; Gaetz, Salpeter, & Shaviv 1987). This is likely to be important in the richer clusters, but most current samples do not contain very rich clusters (the Virgo Cluster being the richest). Although there is evidence for stripping for NGC 4406 in Virgo, early-type galaxies in Virgo are not X-ray underluminous in general, so stripping is probably the exception rather than the rule. Another environmental effect is accretion of material onto galaxies, which can raise the X-ray luminosity substantially (Brighenti & Mathews 1998) and probably is most important in gas-rich group and cluster environments. A third environmental effect is the ability of an ambient medium to stifle a galactic wind, causing those galaxies to retain their gas and become more X-ray luminous than field galaxies (Brown & Bregman 1998).

In Brown & Bregman (1998), we presented the X-ray luminosities of a complete optically-selected sample of 34 early-type galaxies in the 0.5–2.0 keV ROSAT band. We noticed that the galaxies with the largest values of $`L_X`$ (for a given $`L_B`$) were in the more populated regions (the Virgo or Fornax clusters, or in the centers of groups) of the sample, suggesting that being in moderately rich environments enhances the X-ray emission of a system. This trend may differ from that reported by White & Sarazin (1991), who found that lower-X-ray luminous galaxies had 50% more bright neighboring galaxies than higher-X-ray luminous galaxies. To further assess the importance of environment upon X-ray luminosities, we advance our previous work by analyzing the X-ray properties of our sample in the context of a quantitative measure of the galactic richness provided by Tully (1988). In addition, we present information on data processing, sample bias, temperature distribution, and several other issues not discussed in our previous Letter.

## 2 Galaxy Sample and Data Processing

The criteria for including a galaxy in this work is established in Brown & Bregman (1998). The targets (see Table 1) are detected at the $``$ 97% confidence level, and include twelve galaxies lying within the poor clusters of Fornax and Virgo, with the remainder either isolated or lying in loose groups. For the purpose of this survey, we used PSPC data in the processing rather than HRI data when available, since HRI data contains no spectral information (Table 2).

Data analysis was performed using the PROS system under NOAO’s IRAF (software written specifically for X-ray data) with an objective of obtaining a well-defined $`L_X`$ for each galaxy in the sample (§2.1), and $`T_X`$ (X-ray gas temperature) when possible. Spatial analyses (§2.2) were performed on images using a blocking factor of eight for the normalized PSPC data (neglecting the softest energy channels, PI $`<`$ 20), creating 4 arcsec pixels. Blocking factors of two or four were used for HRI data resulting in 1-2 arcsec pixels. Spectral analyses (§2.3) were performed on normalized QPOE files using the same regions chosen for the spatial analyses, and binned according to the quality of the data.

### 2.1 Source and Background

The extent of the region within which the X-ray flux is determined (the source), and the image regions chosen for background subtraction, can have a significant effect on the determination of $`L_X`$ because the galaxies in our sample may sit in clusters or loose groups. Brown & Bregman (1998) briefly state the source and background radial limits, and justifies the use of de Vaucouleur’s half-light radius, $`r_e`$, as the basis for those limits. We chose to use a 4$`r_e`$ radius for the advantages it offers. A circle of 4$`r_e`$ is large enough to be resolved by the ROSAT PSPC for each galaxy, yet small enough to avoid possible cluster emission problems. For our five weakest targets (NGC 1344, NGC 3377, NGC 5061, NGC 5102, and NGC 7507) background emission dominates the signal when going out to 4$`r_e`$. We therefore obtained the flux within 1$`r_e`$, to get its best measure while maximizing the S/N. That value is then multiplied by a factor of 1.58 to extrapolate the flux out to 4$`r_e`$. The correction factor is obtained by taking the ratio of a beta model ($`\beta `$=0.5, $`r_{core}=r_e/11`$) integrated from 0 to 4$`r_e`$ to one integrated from 0 to 1$`r_e`$.

The background is chosen based on our desire to examine $`L_X`$ only within 4$`r_e`$. If the background is defined to be a region far from the source center, as is usually done, there may still exist cluster emission past 4$`r_e`$ surrounding the source. To establish a flux within 4$`r_e`$, the excess emission along our line of sight must be removed. The best way to accomplish this is to subtract an annulus within which the mean surface brightness equals the mean surface brightness of unwanted emission in front of and behind the source. We mathematically determined the radial boundaries of this annulus, using a beta model for extended emission in elliptical galaxies of the form

$$I_X=I_o[1+(r/r_{core,X})^2]^{3\beta +0.5}$$
(1)   
where $`I_o`$ is the central surface brightness, and $`r_{core,X}`$ is the core radius of the X-ray emission. Although an infinite range of inner and outer radii is possible, we find that, to maximize the signal-to-noise, a unique solution of $`r_1=4r_e`$ and $`r_2=6.3r_e`$ exist for $`\beta =0.5`$.

#### 2.1.1 NGC 4494

One galaxy in the sample, NGC 4494, lies far off-axis ($``$45 off). At this radius, the PSF becomes large and distorted, so we needed to correct for the difference between the on-center position and its off-axis position. We could not simply scale the amount within 1$`r_e`$ to 4$`r_e`$ because 1$`r_e`$ is significantly smaller than the PSF of the instrument, so the instrument scatters most of the photons out of 1$`r_e`$. This is the only object that we have where that is true. Instead, we chose a circle of radius 240 as the source, and similar sized circles on either side as the background. As a comparison, we calculated the flux using an annular background 4–6.3 $`r_e`$ from the center of the source which resulted in only a 10% difference, smaller than the uncertainty due to photon statistics.

### 2.2 Spatial Analysis

Spatial analysis was performed on the data in order to compare our well defined choice of background with backgrounds taken at large radii. We first determined the total photon count (proportional to the flux) in a $`4r_e`$ circle using the 4–6.3 $`r_e`$ background (see Table 2). This flux was then compared to one obtained by subtracting a background region beyond the extent of the X-ray emission. This background region was also taken to be an annulus, and was typically located at $`>7r_e`$ from the galaxy center. The comparisons show that only for 36% of the galaxies is there a difference greater than 10% between taking a background as detailed above, and a more traditional background (neglecting the five weak detections and NGC 4494). We find that differences greater than 10% only exist for four of the galaxies (NGC 1395, NGC 1399, NGC 4406, and NGC 4472) when photon count errors are taken into account, and 68% of the galaxies show differences of less than 5% (Figure 1).

### 2.3 Spectral Analysis

We used a Raymond-Smith plasma model for spectral fits, succinctly discussed in Brown & Bregman (1998). Abundances were held at 0.5 solar since the reliability with which they can be determined from the ROSAT PSPC has been questioned (Bauer & Bregman 1996). A recent paper by Loewenstein & Mushotzky (1997) indicate that the metallicity for the galaxies that they observed with ASCA is about 0.5 solar, with scatter, making our choice a reasonable one. Single-temperature models were preferred over two-temperature models when acceptable $`\chi _\nu ^2`$ values could be obtained ($`\chi _\nu ^2>1.46`$ for 30 degrees of freedom). For NGC 4472, an acceptable fit could not be obtained with either a single-temperature or two-temperature model with 50% abundances, so a single-temperature model with 0.8 solar abundance was used. For NGC 1399 and NGC 1404, we also allowed the Galactic $`N_H`$ column density to be a free parameter within a limited range (20.1 $``$ log $`N_H`$ 20.5 and 20.1 $``$ log $`N_H`$ 20.3, respectively in $`cm^2`$) to obtain an acceptable fit.

Temperatures cannot be accurately fitted for low-count (i.e., $`<300`$ counts) PSPC objects, or HRI galaxies (no spectral information). However, a fit must be performed to the data to obtain a flux using PROS software. Therefore, the data for these few galaxies were rebinned into single bins, and fitted for the normalization only. We assumed a fixed $`T_X`$ = 3/2$`T_\sigma `$ (typical of the findings of Davis & White 1996) except for NGC 5102 and NGC 4494 where we used temperatures of 0.5 keV and 0.3 keV respectively, since the lower calculated temperatures led to clearly unacceptable fits. The stellar velocity dispersion temperature, $`T_\sigma `$, is calculated according to

$$kT=\mu m_p\sigma ^2,$$
(2)   
where $`\mu `$ is the mean molecular weight, and $`\sigma `$ is the one-dimensional stellar velocity dispersion.

After fitting the data, fluxes were obtained for two energy ranges $``$ 0.5–2.0 keV and 0.1–2.0 keV $``$ using the intrinsic spectrum found for each source, and fitted temperatures when available. Luminosities were then calculated using distances derived from Faber et al. (1989) and an $`H_0`$ = 50 km/s/Mpc, with the exception of NGC 5102 for which no distance was given in the Faber et al. (1989) catalog (the McMillan, Ciardullo, & Jacoby 1994 distance is used for NGC 5102). In the past, using these distances has significantly reduced the dispersion about $`L_X`$$`L_B`$ line by increasing the internal consistency of distances (Donnelly, Faber, & O’Connell 1990). Errors in the luminosity, due to uncertainties in the Galactic $`N_H`$ column density (typically 5–10%) and uncertainties in photon counts, were examined and calculated. In all cases, errors in the photon statistics were found to be significantly greater than errors introduced from the uncertainty in the Galactic $`N_H`$ column.

## 3 Analysis of the Observational Results

We have reported briefly our findings of $`L_X`$ and $`T_X`$ for this study in Brown & Bregman (1998). We found a slope for the $`L_X`$$`L_B`$ relationship steeper than previous investigations with Einstein Observatory data, with broad dispersion about the fit line. The observed $`L_X`$ of the brightest galaxies were found to be comparable to either the energy released through supernovae or through gravitational infall. A correlation was confirmed between $`T_X`$ and $`T_\sigma `$, using the 19 high-photon-count PSPC galaxies, with a slope steeper than that reported by Davis & White (1996). We discussed a possible connection between the X-ray luminous galaxies and their gas temperatures with respect to $`T_\sigma `$, and suggested a possible connection between the observed X-ray luminosity and the environment in which each galaxy lies. Here, we present a more detailed analysis of the $`L_X`$$`L_B`$ correlation (§3.1), the relationship between $`T_X`$ and $`T_\sigma `$3.2), and the role environment may play in the observed luminosities (§3.3).

### 3.1 The $`L_X`$$`L_B`$ Plane

There can be a large correction to the flux from 0.1–0.5 keV due to Galactic absorption, so we will limit our discussion to the luminosities determined for the 0.5–2.0 keV band (Table 3) which is fairly insensitive to Galactic absorption corrections. A logarithmic plot of $`L_B`$ (derived from Faber et al. 1989 magnitudes) against $`L_X`$ (Figure 2) for the sample is reproduced from Brown & Bregman (1998) with the addition of three dwarf galaxies: NGC 147, NGC 205, and NGC 221 (data processed according to the methods described in §2. The galaxy NGC 221 (M 32) is a detection of a single point source, with a calculated X-ray luminosity (log$`L_X=37.39\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1`$) in good agreement with Burstein et al. (1997), while NGC 147 and NGC 205 are upper limits.

The X-ray-fainter galaxies appear to follow a linear relation (Figure 2) that can be compared to a stellar contribution derived from hard and soft X-ray components of Centaurus A (log $`L_X/L_B=28.96\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$; Brown & Bregman 1998, and references therein). A stellar component may also be scaled from the M31 bulge, since it might be expected that the bulges of spiral galaxies exhibit the same spectral signatures as early-type galaxies dominated by stellar emission. The M31 contribution (log $`L_X/L_B=29.21\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$ and log $`L_X=38.93\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1`$, Irwin & Sarazin 1998) lies 0.3 dex higher than the Cen A stellar line, from which we infer that the stellar X-ray to optical luminosity ratio may not be a constant for all early-type systems.

The X-ray luminosities of the brightest galaxies in the sample can be compared to the maximum amount of energy produced by stellar motions and gravitational infall (log$`L_{grav}`$ = 23.57 + (5/3)log$`L_B`$, Brown & Bregman 1998). This energy depends partly upon the shape of the potential well which is measured by the stellar velocity dispersion. The assumption is made that the thermalization of stellar mass loss is 100% efficient. Figure 2 also indicates that if the supernova rates of van den Bergh & Tammann (1991, upper line) are correct, supernovae can also provide energy sufficient to produced the high X-ray luminosities observed. The lower (by a factor of 4.7) supernova energy line (log$`L_{SN,2}`$ = log$`L_B`$ \+ 30.22) was determined using a supernova rate given by Turatto, Capellaro, & Benetti (1994) and assumes a SNe energy of $`10^{51}`$ ergs.

To determine the correlation between $`L_X`$ and $`L_B`$, we implemented the ordinary least-squares (OLS) linear regression bisector method of Feigelson & Babu (1992) who discuss the applicability and effectiveness of several unweighted least-squares linear regression models to astronomical problems. The usual method employed by astronomers is the least squares Y-on-X (Y/X) fit, which minimizes residuals in Y. The OLS(Y/X) method is clearly preferred if it is known that one variable physically depends on another, or if the goal is to predict Y ($`L_X`$) given X ($`L_B`$). The goal of this study is not predicting $`L_X`$ given $`L_B`$, but understanding the fundamental relationship between $`L_X`$ and $`L_B`$. In this case, the assignment of a dependent or independent variable is uncertain, and so a symmetrical linear regression method is most appropriate as it is invariant to a change of variables (Isobe et al. 1990). Of the four OLS lines reviewed of this sort, the OLS bisector (the line bisecting the OLS(Y/X) and (X/Y) lines) is recommended.

The OLS bisector method yields a slope of 2.72$`\pm `$0.27 for our data (Table 4), which is slightly steeper than previously reported due to the application of a resampling procedure recommended for small samples (Feigelson & Babu 1992). In Table 4, we note that OLS(Y/X) fitting yields a flatter slope consistent with $`m`$ 2.0–2.3 (Eskridge et al. 1995, White & Davis 1997). There is an increase from 2.7 to 2.9 in the $`L_X`$$`L_B`$ slope if the background is chosen far from the galaxy center (see Table 4). The galaxy NGC 5102 is excluded from all fits primarily because of it’s very low $`L_X/L_B`$ ratio, which places it among the dwarf galaxies on the $`L_X`$$`L_B`$ plot (Figure 2). NGC 5102 has a very blue integrated color of ($`BV`$)$`{}_{T}{}^{}{}_{}{}^{0}`$ = 0.58 (de Vaucouleurs et al. 1976), and a low metallicity which suggests that this galaxy recently had a starburst episode, and its X-ray emission is consistent with that of stars (van Woerden et al. 1993).

An estimate of the hot gas contribution to the X-ray emission can be derived by subtracting a linear stellar component ($`L_{X,}`$) from the data. The removal of the Cen A estimate of $`L_{X,}`$ yields a slope of 3.32$`\pm `$0.46 (bisector, Table 4) for the $`L_X`$$`L_B`$ distribution. The bisector slope in this case was calculated using the methods of Isobe et al. (1990) since the distributed software of Feigelson & Babu (1992) does not accommodate upper limits. A gas component was not derived from M31 as we determined that the $`L_X`$ magnitude of the M31 stellar component was greater than the lowest luminosity galaxies (NGC 1344, NGC 3115, and NGC 5102) at the 3$`\sigma `$ level. Also, CO is abundant in the bulge of M31, which distinguishes it from early-type galaxies (Loinard, Allen, & Lequeux 1995), and it has been suggested that the M31 bulge represents a post-starburst stage (Rieke, Lebofsky, & Walker 1988).

### 3.2 $`T_X`$$`T\sigma `$ Correlation

Brown & Bregman (1998) confirm a correlation between the fitted X-ray gas temperature ($`T_X`$) and the stellar velocity dispersion temperature ($`T_\sigma `$), in addition to the $`L_X`$$`L_B`$ relationship. The slope of the log$`T_X`$–log$`T_\sigma `$ relationship is found to be 1.43$`\pm `$0.34 (see Table 4), which is slightly steeper than a slope of unity that is expected in cooling flow models. Also not theoretically expected, is a large dispersion in $`T_X`$ about the best fit line.

The slope to the temperature data differs from that reported by Davis & White (1996) who published temperatures for 30 galaxies. The causes of this difference are discussed briefly in Brown & Bregman (1998). One cause lies in the methods these two groups use in fitting the data. Our temperature data is reproduced in Figure 3a with the addition of a Y-on-X fitted line, and compared to the data of Davis & White (1996, Figure 3b) in illustration of the difference in statistical methods. For the Davis & White (1996) sample, we plot $`T_\sigma `$ instead of $`\sigma `$, where $`T_\sigma `$ is derived from Faber et al. (1989) and Dressler et al. (1991) velocity dispersions. As stated in §3.1, the regression method utilized is a function of the problem being addressed.

Davis & White (1996) find gas temperatures everywhere hotter than the expected velocity dispersion temperature, which is a striking difference between their data and ours. Below $`T_\sigma 0.45`$ keV we find a more or less symmetrical distribution of gas temperatures about the $`T_X`$ = $`T_\sigma `$ line. In cases where we fit $`T_X>0.5`$ keV, we find that our temperatures agree well with Davis & White (1996) for the same galaxies. Below $`T_X=0.5`$ keV, our temperatures range from $``$25–60% below the values of Davis & White (1996). This difference cannot simply be the result of the number of temperature components allowed (see Brown & Bregman 1998), as three of our “low” $`T_X`$ galaxies were fit with single-temperatures. Davis & White (1996) report extremely low solar abundances (Z $`0.06`$ solar) for the three galaxies by allowing Z to be a fit parameter, and at low abundances, derived temperatures become higher.

A discussion of our data as compared to ASCA derived temperatures is given in Brown & Bregman (1998). Our temperatures are presented in Table 5 along with those of Davis & White (1996), and Buote & Fabian (1998) ASCA temperatures for comparison.

### 3.3 The galaxy environment

We suggested in our previous paper that the observed X-ray luminosity of a galaxy was strongly influenced by its environment because the most X-ray luminous galaxies were in clusters or in the centers of groups. Here, we examine this by quantifying the environment richness through the use of the local galaxy density, $`\rho `$. We determine which objects are X-ray luminous for their $`L_B`$ by comparing $`L_X/L_B`$ to the individual $`\rho `$ of each galaxy in our sample.

In Figure 4, the ratio of the X-ray-to-optical luminosity is plotted against the Tully (1988) local density of galaxies ($`\rho `$) brighter than -16 mag in the vicinity of each sample galaxy. The galaxy density is calculated such that an isolated galaxy will have a local density of $`\rho `$ = 0.06 galaxies Mpc<sup>-3</sup> by virtue of its own presence. The local density in a richer environment, for example the center of the Virgo cluster, would be approximately 5 galaxies Mpc<sup>-3</sup>. For our sample, no high luminosity systems are found in the most isolated environments ($`\rho <`$ 0.2 galaxies Mpc<sup>-3</sup>), where the median log $`L_X/L_B`$ is plotted on Figure 4 at $`29.1\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$. The upper and lower 25% quartile values for log $`L_X/L_B`$ in this region are 29.2 and 28.8 respectively (both in $`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$). The highest luminosity galaxies are only found in the densest environments ($`\rho >`$ 0.79 galaxies Mpc<sup>-3</sup>), however lower luminosity ellipticals are also found in this region contributing to a collective median luminosity ratio of $`30.2\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$, with log $`L_X/L_B=30.6\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$ at the upper 25% quartile and 29.7 $`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$ at the lower 25% quartile. For 0.2 $`<\rho <`$ 0.8 galaxies Mpc<sup>-3</sup>, the median luminosity ratio has a moderate value of log($`L_X/L_B`$) $`29.6\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$ and upper and lower 25% quartile log $`L_X/L_B`$ values of 29.3 and 30.0 respectively (in $`\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$).

The data appear to follow a correlation albeit with broad dispersion, and there is a lower limit to the luminosity ratio for $`1.2<`$ log $`\rho <`$ 0.6, with no galaxies found below log $`L_X/L_B=28.8\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$. We applied statistical tests to the data to quantify the apparent correlation. Three non-parametric tests for bivariate data, Kendall’s Tau, Spearman’s Rho, and Cox Proportional Hazard, were performed, each of which determined a correlation in the data at better than the 99.7% confidence level.

We additionally examined the $`L_X`$ residuals for the OLS(Y/X) fit, excluding NGC 5102, as they might relate to the galaxy environment (see Figure 5). The residuals are defined to be the difference between $`L_X`$ and the OLS bisector fit to $`L_X`$ and $`L_B`$. The Kendall’s Tau test indicates a correlation exists at $`>`$ 99% confidence. The correlation implies that the galaxies brightest for their optical luminosity (i.e, NGC 1399, NGC 4636, NGC 4552) are found in the spatially densest regions (relative to the rest of the sample). Occasionally, a galaxy with a low $`L_X`$, given $`L_B`$, is found in a dense environment indicating that complex mechanisms affect observed X-ray luminosities.

The fitted X-ray temperatures, as a function of spatial density, exhibit a weak correlation at the 92-95% confidence level, depending upon if one uses the Kendall’s Tau test, the Spearman’s Rho test, or the Cox Proportional Hazard model (Figure 6a). The hottest galaxies (k$`T_X0.8`$ keV) are found in a range of environments as are galaxies with k$`T_X0.45`$ keV. The ratio of $`T_X`$ to $`T_\sigma `$ as a function of density exhibits an even weaker correlation, as shown in Figure 6b.

### 3.4 Malmquist bias

The issue of bias is an important one for our sample, so we have addressed the statistical and geometrical effects that are often discussed as Malmquist bias. One effect is of concern whenever measured distances contain uncertainty. Along a line of sight, as one goes farther in distance, the volume of space associated with a given solid angle increases. This has the effect of giving greater weight to larger distances. This is the “classical” Malmquist bias, and is corrected for in the distance measurements used in our analyses (Faber et al. 1989).

The other type of Malmquist bias occurs in magnitude-limited samples and reflects the fact that the intrinsic luminosity function is not being equally or completely sampled at all distances. For the most distant galaxies, only the high luminosity part of the luminosity function is sampled, whereas for the nearest galaxies, much more of the luminosity function is sampled. Although this is an important issue for some investigations, such as those using standard candles as distance indicators (e.g., Teerikorpi 1997), it is not important for this study, which does not require that the Schecter luminosity function be fully sampled. Our sample merely requires that the galaxies be representative of those that comprise the Schecter luminosity function, and that they were chosen in a fashion that does not bias the X-ray luminosity. These galaxies where chosen independently of their X-ray properties, each was detected in X-rays, and they lie far above the magnitude limit of the Faber et al. (1989) sample, so this should comprise an unbiased sample.

## 4 Discussion and Conclusions

### 4.1 The Role of Environment

One of results of our work is the demonstration that environment has a central influence on the X-ray luminosity as seen in the positive correlation of the $`L_X/L_B`$ ratio with galaxy density. In the lowest density environments, only X-ray faint galaxies are found (low $`L_X/L_B`$ ratios), and the galaxies with the highest $`L_X/L_B`$ ratios are found in fairly dense environments. However, galaxies in dense environments exhibit a wide range in $`L_X/L_B`$, suggesting that environment does not have the same effect on all galaxies, and we suggest a natural explanation for this.

The distribution of $`L_X/L_B`$ in Figure 4 reveals that there is a positive correlation between local environmental richness and X-ray brightness, but with significant dispersion at moderate and high galaxy density. In an effort to understand this distribution, it is important to recognize that environment can have both positive and negative effects on the X-ray brightness of a galaxy (e.g., Takeda, Nulsen, & Fabian 1984). Groups and clusters with a significant ambient medium can lead to stripping of the interstellar gas from a galaxy, leading to a substantial reduction in $`L_X/L_B`$. However, for galaxies moving slowly through relatively cool clusters or groups, the galaxy may be able to accrete this external material, increasing $`L_X/L_B`$ (Brighenti & Mathews 1998). Also, an ambient group or cluster medium could stifle galactic winds, should they exist, causing the galaxy to retain its hot gas locally, which also will increase $`L_X/L_B`$. Therefore, galaxies in clusters or groups would have a range of $`L_X/L_B`$, where the low values are determined by galaxies where stripping or winds occur, and the high values represent systems that are accreting the ambient material or having their winds stifled. In very rich clusters, like Coma, stripping is probably the dominant process, but none of the galaxies in our sample lie in such a rich system. The richest cluster in this sample is Virgo, where stripping is expected to occur in some of the galaxies, but not most of them (Gaetz, Salpeter, & Shaviv 1987).

The role of environment has been previously examined by White & Sarazin (1991) using Einstein Observatory data to determine if a correlation exists between local galaxy density and $`L_X`$. White & Sarazin (1991) find the number of bright, neighboring galaxies within various projected distances from each X-ray galaxy, and perform linear regressions of log $`L_X`$ against log $`L_B`$ and the local density of galaxies. They conclude that the large dispersion in $`L_X`$ is not significantly reduced by taking into account the individual local galaxy density, which may be due to uncertainties in the numbers of neighbors found. White & Sarazin (1991) then binned the X-ray sample in order to reduce statistical error. The X-ray sample is divided into four subsets: high-$`L_X`$ (log $`L_X/L_B30\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$) detections, high-$`L_X`$ upper limits, low-$`L_X`$ detections, and low-$`L_X`$ upper limits. The total number of bright galaxies (again, within various projected distances) around all galaxies in each subset is calculated yielding an averaged number of bright galaxies per X-ray galaxy for each subgroup. They find that low-$`L_X`$ galaxies have $`50`$% more neighbors than high-$`L_X`$ galaxies, which the authors argue is expected if ram-pressure stripping is a major factor in the $`L_X`$ dispersion.

The method of White & Sarazin (1991) is significantly different from ours. Whereas they bin an incomplete sample of Einstein Observatory data and look at bright neighbors in various projected distances, we use the tabulated local galaxy density data of Tully (1988) for each galaxy in our complete sample. The Tully local density is calculated using a three-dimensional grid spaced at 0.5 Mpc. Also, our data includes X-ray fainter galaxies, which allows us to extend the range of X-ray-to-optical luminosity ratios. Our data extends down to log $`L_X/L_B=28.8\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$ versus the Canizares, Fabbiano, & Trinchieri (1987; used by White & Sarazin 1991) data which extends down to log $`L_X/L_B=29.2\mathrm{ergs}\mathrm{s}^1/L_{}`$. Since none of the galaxies in these samples lie in rich environments (i.e., $`>`$ 4 galaxies per Mpc<sup>3</sup>), we cannot determine if ram-pressure stripping effects becomes significant in the observed X-ray luminosity in very dense environments.

### 4.2 The Importance of Galactic Winds

The extremely low values of $`L_X/L_B`$ seen in isolated galaxies is probably the strongest evidence in favor of galactic winds. The X-ray emission from these systems is so low that one is probably detecting the X-ray contribution from stars rather than gas, indicating that these galaxies are not gas-rich. For these galaxies, an ambient group or cluster medium is not detected and they do not lie in a high velocity dispersion group, so stripping is unlikely to occur. Furthermore, the rate of supernova energy input is probably adequate to drive a galactic wind, as discussed below. Therefore, the most viable mechanism for rendering the galaxies X-ray weak is through galactic winds (see Pellegrini & Ciotti 1998, and references therein).

Galactic winds will occur if the supernova heating rate is sufficient to raise the temperature of the mass loss from stars above the escape temperature (from the galaxy center). A steady-state galactic wind will obey Bernoulli’s law, which for a flow that has a small flow velocity when it reaches large radius is $`\frac{5P}{2\rho }+\mathrm{\Phi }=0`$, where $`\mathrm{\Phi }`$ is the gravitational potential and $`\frac{5P}{2\rho }`$ is the enthalpy. For a steady-state wind from the center of a galaxy where $`\mathrm{\Phi }(0)=8\sigma ^2`$,

$$T_{wind}=\frac{16}{5}\sigma ^2\mu m_p/k$$
(3)   
The variable $`\mu `$ is the mean molecular weight, $`m_p`$ is the proton mass, and $`k`$ is the Boltzmann constant. We use the supernova rate of Cappellaro et al. (1997), and energy per supernova of $`10^{51}`$ ergs, and the stellar mass loss rate of Faber & Gallagher (1976) to determine gas temperature entering the system:

$$T_{gas}=(\alpha _{SN}T_{SN}+\alpha _{}T_{})/(\alpha _{SN}+\alpha _{})$$
(4)   
where $`\alpha _{}`$ and $`\alpha _{SN}`$ are the mass loss rates from stars and supernovae (see, e.g., Mathews & Brighenti 1997).

We then find that the most optically luminous galaxy that can sustain a total wind occurs at $`L_B=5\times 10^{10}L_{}`$. Less luminous galaxies can drive a wind, provided that high ambient pressure from the surrounding environment does not prevent it. For galaxies more luminous than about $`1.5\times 10^{11}L_{}`$, the radius beyond which a wind can exist is far enough out that most of the stellar mass loss is retained by the galaxy (for galaxies with more complex models, partial winds may be more common; see Pelligrini & Ciotti 1998). The largest uncertainty in estimating these values for $`L_B`$ is the energy released per supernova, which may be uncertain by about a factor of two.

Previously, we offered the suggestion that the galaxies with high $`L_X/L_B`$ values were X-ray bright because galactic winds were stifled (contained) by a high-pressure ambient medium. This is energetically possible if the supernova rate is correctly given by van den Bergh & Tammann (1991), whose rate differs by about a factor of three from Cappellaro et al. (1997; see Figure 2). The primary discrepancy between the two rate calculations is the correction for the inability to detect supernovae against the ambient light of the galaxy. A correction by a factor of three was suggested by van den Bergh & Tammann (1991), while Cappellaro et al. (1997) argue that the correction factor is only about 40%. We calculated the distance from the center of an elliptical galaxy within which a point source near the magnitude limit of these surveys would fall below the $`5\sigma `$ detection threshold, for a typical elliptical galaxy in these surveys. We find that only 5-30% of the supernovae would have been missed due to this effect, similar to the more accurate calculation of Cappellaro et al. (1997).

The supernova heating rate of Turatto, Capellaro, & Benetti (1994; line $`L_{SN,2}`$ in Figure 2) is insufficient to account for the X-ray emission from the highest $`L_X/L_B`$ systems, which are up to a factor of three above this line (an energy of $`10^{51}`$ erg per supernova is used). Unless the energy per supernova has been underestimated by a factor of three, we consider unlikely our original suggestion that stifled winds can explain the highest $`L_X/L_B`$ systems. The source of energy in these high luminosity systems is most likely gravitational, supplied by accretion onto the system, as discussed by Mathews & Brighenti (1998) and Brighenti & Mathews (1999). They show that the temperature and density distributions of hot gas in X-ray luminous galaxies, such as NGC 4472, are consistent with their calculations.

### 4.3 An Overall Explanation of the $`L_X`$$`L_B`$ Distribution

Previously, there was hope that the cooling flow model could provide a satisfactory explanation for the observed log$`L_X`$–log$`L_B`$ distribution. An $`L_X`$$`L_B`$ correlation with a slope of about 1.7 was predicted, which was similar to observations, and the dispersion about this correlation was treated as perturbations due (in part) to differences in galaxy evolution. The picture that we present is fundamentally different. We suggest that the steep observed correlation is due to the transition from galaxies with total winds, to those with partial winds, to those where the gas is retained and can accrete additional material. As calculated above, we expect this transition from winds to retained gas to occur in the range $`10.7<\mathrm{log}L_B(L_{})<11.2`$. Below log$`L_B=10.7(L_{})`$, one only finds galaxies with small values of $`L_X/L_B`$, as would be expected for systems with total winds. Also, all galaxies with log$`L_B>11.2`$ have $`L_X/L_B`$ values well above that for purely stellar emission, consistent with retaining their gas. Of equal importance is the influence of environment, which can remove galactic gas through stripping, but can also help galaxies retain their gas by stifling winds, and can add to the galactic gas content through accretion.

A critical difference between our picture and most others is that heating by supernovae can be comparable to, if not greater than the heating by the thermalization of stellar ejecta. This suggestion is not in complete agreement with other models or with some observations, the disagreement centering around the importance of winds and the metal enrichment introduced by the supernovae. Brighenti & Mathews (1999) study massive galaxies and use a supernova rate that is less than half the value determined by Cappellaro et al. (1997). With these supernova rates and galactic potential wells, winds are not important. They show that a range of nearly an order of magnitude in $`L_X/L_B`$ can be introduced by truncation of the galaxy as it interacts with neighbors (Brighenti & Mathews 1999).

However, the observed range in $`L_X/L_B`$ is two orders of magnitude, and when the stellar contribution is removed, the range in $`L_X/L_B`$ due to the gas alone substantially exceeds two orders of magnitude. It is unlikely that truncation alone will produce the wide range in $`L_X/L_B`$. Also, in their model, one might expect that truncation would be least important in regions of low galaxy density, leading to high values of $`L_X/L_B`$ in such regions. In conflict with this expectation, we find that galaxies in the lowest density environments only have low values of $`L_X/L_B`$. The great range of $`L_X/L_B`$ and the finding that fairly isolated galaxies have low values of $`L_X/L_B`$ is consistent with expectations of a model that incorporates galactic winds.

A discussion of supernova rates also introduces an apparent conflict between the expected and observed metallicity of the X-ray emitting gas (see Brown & Bregman 1998). For the standard cooling flow picture and the rates given by Cappellaro et al. (1997), the metallicity should be several times solar instead of near-solar (Loewenstein & Mushotzky 1997; Buote 1999). However, the metallicities are measured only for the most luminous galaxies, and these are precisely the ones for which accretion of circumgalactic gas dominates the gas content. The metallicity prediction must be revised downward due to the diluting effects of the accreted gas, which may reduce the metallicity into the observed range.

### 4.4 Predictions of the Models

The various suggestions made by us and others has several immediate predictions that will be tested by upcoming observations. First, the amount of the stellar contribution to the X-ray emission should be spatially resolved by Chandra, leading to a clear determination of this value, and probably a determination of the spectrum, separated from the spectrum of the hot gas. Another important test will be the measurement of the rate of cooling gas, since it should be low if supernovae cause galactic winds and approximately the stellar mass loss rate if cooling flows are uniformly present. We predict that the low $`L_X/L_B`$ galaxies will show little evidence of cooling gas, which will be measured through the O VIII and O VII X-ray lines with Chandra, and through the O VI line with FUSE. The high $`L_X/L_B`$ galaxies should have cooling rates similar to the stellar mass loss rate, if not greater, although most models agree on this prediction. Cooling flow models should show a significant metallicity gradient from the outer to the inner parts, reflecting the stellar metallicity gradient, and this effect should be even more pronounced for galaxies that are accreting material from the surrounding group or cluster. Finally, the ongoing optical supernova searches, being carried out with modern CCD techniques, should yield an improved determination of the supernova rate.

We would like to thank a variety of people for valuable discussion: J. Irwin, J. Mohr, P. Hanlan, R. White, M. Loewenstein, G. Worthey, J. Parriott, M. Roberts, D. Hogg, and R. Mushotzky. Special thanks is due to the members of the ROSAT team and to the archiving efforts associated with the mission. Also, we wish to acknowledge the use of the NASA Extragalactic Database (NED), operated by IPAC under contract with NASA; SLOPES, which implements the methods presented in Isobe et al. (1990), Babu & Feigelson (1992), and Feigelson & Babu (1992); ASURV (Isobe & Feigelson 1990), which implements the methods presented in Isobe, Feigelson, & Nelson ( 1986). NASA has provided support for this work through grants NAGW-2135, NAG5-1955, and NAG5-3247; BAB would like to acknowledge support through a NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program grant NGT-51408, and the support of the National Academy of Sciences postdoctoral associate program.