Models of hot galactic coronae around early-type galaxies

We have computed simple non-steady state models of X-ray-emitting, hot galactic coronae which are observed around early-type galaxies. Our models, appropriate for elliptical galaxies, include the effect of the formation of new stars which occurs as the gas radiatively cools and the effect of supernova explosions which serve to heat the cooling gas component from which the stars are forming. We develop scaling relations for the galaxy parameters including the optical galaxy as well as a dark matter halo which we use to generate galaxy models spanning a range of absolute magnitudes from -19.5 to -22.5. We compare our models to a sample of approximately 150 galaxies with measured X-ray luminosities. We show that our simple model does exhibit the observed correlation between X-ray and optical luminosity. However, the model cannot explain the broad range in X-ray luminosity at a given optical luminosity.