Spectacular X-ray tails, intracluster star formation and ULXs in A3627
  We present the discovery of spectacular double X-ray tails associated with
ESO137-001 and a possibly heated X-ray tail associated with ESO137-002, both
late-type galaxies in the closest rich cluster Abell 3627. A deep Chandra
observation of ESO137-001 allows us for the first time to examine the spatial
and spectral properties of such X-ray tails in detail. Besides the known bright
tail that extends to ~ 80 kpc from ESO137-001, a fainter and narrower secondary
tail with a similar length was surprisingly revealed. There is little
temperature variation along both tails. We also identified six X-ray point
sources as candidates of intracluster ULXs with L(0.3-10 keV) of up to
2.5x10^40 erg s^-1. Gemini spectra of intracluster HII regions downstream of
ESO137-001 are also presented, as well as the velocity map of these HII regions
that shows the imprint of ESO137-001's disk rotation. For the first time, we
unambiguously know that active star formation can happen in the cold ISM
stripped by ICM ram pressure and it may contribute a significant amount of the
intracluster light. We also report the discovery of a 40 kpc X-ray tail of
another late-type galaxy in A3627, ESO137-002. Its X-ray tail seems hot, ~ 2
keV (compared to ~ 0.8 keV for ESO137-001's tails). We conclude that the high
pressure environment around these two galaxies is important for their bright
X-ray tails and the intracluster star formation.
