X-ray emission from a merger remnant, NGC 7252 (the "atoms-for-peace" galaxy)

We observed a nearby merger remnant NGC 7252 with the X-ray satellite ASCA and detected X-ray emission with the X-ray flux of (1.8 +/- 0.3) x 10(-13) ergs s(-1) cm(-2) in the 0.5-10 keV band. This corresponds to the X-ray luminosity of 8.1 x 10(40) ergs s(-1). The X-ray emission is well described with a two-component model: a soft component with kT = 0.72 +/- 0.13 keV and a hard component with kT > 5.1 keV. Although NGC 7252 is referred to as a dynamically young protoelliptical, the 0.5-4 keV luminosity of the soft component is about 2 x 10(40) ergs s(-1), which is low for an early-type galaxy. The ratio of L-X/L-FIR suggests that the soft component originated from the hot gas due to star formation. Its low luminosity can be explained by the gas ejection from the galaxy as galaxy winds. Our observation reveals the existence of hard X-ray emission with the 2-10 keV luminosity of 5.6 x 10(40) ergs s(-1). This may indicate the existence of nuclear activity or an intermediate-mass black hole in NGC 7252.