092068

Massive relic galaxies (MRGs) are local analogs of the high-redshift rednuggets.. thought to represent the progenitors of today.s early-type galaxies(ETGs). X-ray observation of the hot diffuse gas of MRGs is the most viablemeans to measure the global mass properties but only a few MRGs have beenidentified as suitable for such analysis. To remedy this we constructed asample of MRGs to map in detail their X-ray emission. We propose a snapshotsurvey of the 4 MRGs in the sample which lack X-ray data. Deep follow-upexposures with XMM-Newton and Chandra of promising targets will then be soughtto map their stellar gas and DM profiles to establish if high haloconcentrations are typical for MRGs and if their inner mass profiles differ from those of local ETGs. [truncated! Please see actual data for full text]