1999ApJ...519...48S

We have investigated, through spherically symmetric hydrodynamical simulation, whether thermal conduction together with stellar activities (mass loss and Type Ia supernovae) can stabilize the X-ray-emitting gas near the center of elliptical galaxies. The configurations of the gas are divided into two distinct states, depending on the amount of intracluster gas surrounding the galaxy and the stellar mass-loss rate in the galaxy. One is a state of thermal balance between the radiative cooling and thermal conduction that can persist for more than 10 Gyr. The gas reaches nearly hydrostatic equilibrium in the galactic potential, with the gas density declining as r^–1. The X-ray luminosity can be as bright as that observed in M87, depending on the initial intracluster gas densities. Subsolar Fe abundance of the gas is expected. The other state results in a cooling catastrophe near the center on a timescale of 10⁷-10⁸ yr owing to radiative cooling. This catastrophe arises when (1) the initial intracluster gas density is so low that the thermal energy in the intracluster gas is too low to carry enough energy inward and (2) the stellar mass-loss rate or the initial intracluster gas density is so large that the timescale of cooling outweighs that of conduction.