1999ApJ...527L..89B

Anticipating forthcoming Chandra X-ray observations, we describe the continuation of interstellar cooling flows deep into the cores of elliptical galaxies. Interstellar gas heated to T>1 keV in the potential of massive black holes (r≲50 pc) should be visible unless thermal heating is diluted by nonthermal pressure. Since our flows are subsonic near the massive black holes, distributed cooling continues within ∼300 pc. Dark, low-mass stars formed in this region may be responsible for some of the mass attributed to central black holes.