The outer haloes of massive elliptical galaxies [Elektronische Ressource] / vorgelegt von Payel Das

T H E O U T E R H A L O E S O F M A S S I V E E L L I P T I C A L G A L A X I E Spayel das[17th May 2011 at 16:14 ][17th May 2011 at 16:14 ]T H E O U T E R H A L O E S O F M A S S I V E E L L I P T I C A L G A L A X I E Spayel dasDissertationan der Fakultät für Physikder Ludwig-Maximilians-UniversitätMünchenvorgelegt vonPayel Dasaus Raj-Nilgiri, IndienMünchen, den 20 Januar 2011[17th May 2011 at 16:14 ]erstgutachter: PD Dr. Ortwin Gerhardzweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Hans Böhringertag der mündlichen prüfung: 01 April 2011[17th May 2011 at 16:14 ]The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.— PlutarchDedicated to the loving memory of my grandfathers.[17th May 2011 at 16:14 ][17th May 2011 at 16:14 ]A B S T R A C TThis thesis has focused on the outer haloes of a sample of sixmassive elliptical galaxies in the nearby universe. NGC 1399 islocated at the centre of the Fornax cluster, NGC1407 and NGC5846 at the centre of groups, and NGC 4472 (M49), NGC 4486(M87), and NGC 4649 (M60) at the centre of sub-clumps in theirregular Virgo cluster.A new method based on Bayesian statistics has been developedto constrain the mass distribution from density and temperatureprofiles of the surrounding hot gas. Dynamical models werecreated for NGC 4486 and NGC 5486 using Jeans equations andassuming a potential determined from X-ray observations.