Spatial Distribution of Abundance Patterns in the Starburst Galaxy NGC
  3079 Revealed with Chandra and Suzaku
  We performed simultaneous spectral analysis of 26.6 ksec of Chandra and 102.3
ksec of Suzaku X-ray data of the starburst galaxy NGC 3079. The spectra are
extracted from four regions: 0.5' (2.25 kpc) circle, an inner 0.5'-1'
(2.25--4.5 kpc) ring, and an outer 1'-2' (4.5--9 kpc) ring from Chandra, and 4'
(18 kpc) circle from Suzaku, all centered on the nucleus. Fitting with thermal
plasma models yields interstellar medium (ISM) temperatures of 0.65+0.05-0.04,
0.45+0.07-0.06, and 0.24+0.03-0.02 keV in the three regions, respectively. The
combination of Chandra's high angular resolution and Suzaku's good spectral
sensitivity enable us to spatially resolve and measure the abundances of the
metals O, Ne, Mg, and Fe within the hot ISM. In particular, the abundance
patterns of O/Fe, Ne/Fe, Mg/Fe, and Si/Fe in the central regions (<4.5 kpc) are
consistent with the expectations from Supernovae (SN) II synthesis. On the
other hand, the pattern in the region beyond 4.5 kpc is closer to solar. The
central regions are also where copious polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon infrared
emission related to recent starburst activity is known to occur. This suggests
that we are seeing starburst-related SN II metal enrichment in the hot
X-ray--emitting nuclear ISM. The spatial extent of the SN II--like abundance
patterns is consistent with NGC 3079 being in a relatively-early phase of
starburst activity.
