An XMM-Newton observation of NGC 1399 reveals two phases of hot gas and supersolar abundances in the central regions

We present an initial analysis of a new XMM-Newton observation of NGC 1399, the central elliptical galaxy of the Fornax group. Spectral fitting of the spatially resolved spectral data of the European Photon Imaging Camera MOS and pn CCDs reveals that a two-temperature (2T) model of the hot gas is favored over single-phase and cooling flow models within the central similar to20 kpc. The preference for the 2T model applies whether or not the data are deprojected. The cooler component has a temperature (similar to0.9 keV) similar to the kinetic temperature of the stars, while the hotter component has a temperature (similar to1.5 keV) characteristic of the virial temperature of a similar to10(13) M-circle dot halo. The two-phase model (and other multitemperature models) removes the Fe bias within rless than or similar to20 kpc and gives Z(Fe)/Z(circle dot) approximate to 1.5-2. At larger radii, the iron abundance decreases until for Z(Fe)/Z(circle dot) similar to 0.5 for rsimilar to50 kpc. The Si abundance is supersolar (1.2-1.7 solar) within the central regions, while Z(Si)/Z(Fe) approximate to 0.8 over the entire region studied. These Fe and Si abundances imply that approximate to80% of the Fe mass within rsimilar to50 kpc originates from Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). This SNe Ia fraction is similar to that inferred for the Sun and therefore suggests a stellar initial mass function similar to the Milky Way.