ChandraObservations of Nuclear Outflows in the Elliptical Galaxy NGC 4552 in the Virgo Cluster

We use a 54.4 ks Chandra observation to study nuclear outflow activity inNGC4552 (M89), an elliptical galaxy in the Virgo Cluster. Chandra images in the0.5-2 keV band show two ring-like features ~1.7 kpc in diameter in the core ofNGC4552, as reported previously by Filho et al. We use spherically symmetricpoint explosion shock models to argue that the shape of the surface brightnessprofile across the rims of the rings and the temperature of hot gas in therings are consistent with a Mach 1.7 shock carrying mean mechanical powerL_shock ~ 3 x 10^{41} ergs/s produced by a ~1.4 x 10^{55} ergs nuclear outburst\~1 - 2 Myr ago. We find the gas temperature in the central ~100 pc of thegalaxy to be 1.0 +/- 0.2 keV, hotter than elsewhere in the galaxy, suggestingthat we may be observing directly the reheating of the galaxy ISM by theoutburst.Comment: second part (sec. 4) of astroph/0508588v1 with expanded intro and discussion; 16 pages, 8 figs., ApJ, submitte