Hot gas morpoloy, thermal structure, and the AGN connection in elliptical galaxies

Recent studies of the hot interstellar medium in normal elliptical galaxies have shown that (1) the gas is only approximately hydrostatic; (2) morphological disturbances are corrleated with radio and X-ray signatures of AGN; and (3) temperature gradients in the main bodies of the galaxies are correlated with nuclear activity but not with environment. An X-ray Gas Fundamental Plane (XGFP), unrelated to the stellar fundamental plane, links the global gas properties in a relation whose origin is not yet understood.