Engineering topics

Cavaliere, A

Publications and source records attributed to Cavaliere, A.

7 records

DOE OSTI2013

THE PLANCK SUNYAEV-ZEL'DOVICH VERSUS THE X-RAY VIEW OF THE COMA CLUSTER

The Planck collaboration has recently published precise and resolved measurements of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect in Abell 1656 (the Coma cluster of galaxies), thus directly gauging the electron pressure profile in the intracluster plasma. On the other hand, such a quantity may be also derived from combining the density and temperature provided by X-ray observations of the thermal bremsstrahlung radiation emitted by the plasma. We find a model-independent tension between the SZ and the X-ray pressure, with the SZ one being definitely lower by 15%-20%. We propose that such a challenging tension can be resolved in terms of an additional, non-thermal support to the gravitational equilibrium of the intracluster plasma. This can be straightforwardly included in our Supermodel, so as to fit in detail the Planck SZ profile while being consistent with the X-ray observables. Possible origins of the non-thermal component include cosmic-ray protons, ongoing turbulence, and relativistic electrons; given the existing observational constraints on the first two options, here we focus on the third. For this to be effective, we find that the electron population must include not only an energetic tail accelerated to {gamma} {approx}> 10{sup 3} responsible for the Coma radiohalo, but also many more, lower energy electrons. The electron acceleration is to be started by merging events similar to those that provided the very high central entropy of the thermal intracluster plasma in Coma.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2012

THE INTRACLUSTER PLASMA: A UNIVERSAL PRESSURE PROFILE?

The pressure profiles of the intracluster plasma in galaxy clusters show a wide variance when observed in X-rays at low redshifts, z {approx}< 0.2. We find the profiles to follow two main patterns, featuring either a steep or a shallow shape throughout both core and outskirts. We trace these shapes back to a physical dichotomy of clusters into two classes, marked by either low entropy (LE) or high entropy (HE) throughout. From X-ray observations and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) stacked data at higher redshifts 0.2 {approx}< z {approx}< 0.4, we obtain evidence of an increasing abundance of HEs relative to LEs. We propose this to constitute a systematic trend toward high z; specifically, we predict the pressure profiles to converge into a truly universal HE-like template for z {approx}> 0.5. We submit our physical templates and converging trend for further observational tests, in view of current and upcoming measurements of individual, stacked, and integrated SZ signals.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2011

SELF-SIMILAR DYNAMICAL RELAXATION OF DARK MATTER HALOS IN AN EXPANDING UNIVERSE

We investigate the structure of cold dark matter halos using advanced models of spherical collapse and accretion in an expanding universe. These are based on solving time-dependent equations for the moments of the phase-space distribution function in the fluid approximation; our approach includes non-radial random motions and, most importantly, an advanced treatment of both dynamical relaxation effects that take place in the infalling matter: phase-mixing associated with shell crossing and collective collisions related to physical clumpiness. We find self-similar solutions for the spherically averaged profiles of mass density {rho}(r), pseudo phase-space density Q(r), and anisotropy parameter {beta}(r). These profiles agree with the outcomes of state-of-the-art N-body simulations in the radial range currently probed by the latter; at smaller radii, we provide specific predictions. In the perspective provided by our self-similar solutions, we link the halo structure to its two-stage growth history and propose the following picture. During the early fast collapse of the inner region dominated by a few merging clumps, efficient dynamical relaxation plays a key role in producing closely universal mass density and pseudo phase-space density profiles; in particular, these are found to depend only weakly on the detailed shape of the initial perturbation and the related collapse times. The subsequent inside-out growth of the outer regions feeds on the slow accretion of many small clumps and diffuse matter; thus the outskirts are only mildly affected by dynamical relaxation but are more sensitive to asymmetries and cosmological variance.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2011

X-RAY AND TeV EMISSIONS FROM HIGH-FREQUENCY-PEAKED BL LAC OBJECTS

The majority of the extragalactic sources yet detected at TeV photon energies belong to the class of 'high-frequency-peaked BL Lac objects' (HBLs) that exhibit a spectral energy distribution with a lower peak in the X-ray band. Such spectra are well described in terms of a log-parabolic shape with considerable curvature, and widely interpreted as synchrotron emission from ultrarelativistic electrons outflowing in a relativistic jet; these are expected to radiate also in {gamma}-rays through the inverse Compton process. Recently, we have compared the X-ray spectral parameter distributions of TeV detected HBLs (TBLs) with those undetected (UBLs), and found that the distributions of the peak energies E{sub p} are similarly symmetric around a value of a few keVs for both subclasses, while the X-ray spectra are broader for TBLs than for UBLs. Here we propose an acceleration scenario to interpret both the E{sub p} and the spectral curvature distributions in terms of a coherent and a stochastic acceleration mechanisms, respectively. We show how the curvature parameter b {approx_equal} 0.3-0.7 of the synchrotron X-rays, which depends only on the latter acceleration component, can be related to the inverse Compton luminosity in {gamma}-rays, thus introducing a link between the X-ray and the TeV observations of HBLs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2011

A GRAND DESIGN FOR GALAXY CLUSTERS: CONNECTIONS AND PREDICTIONS

We analyze with our entropy-based Supermodel a library of 12 galaxy clusters featuring extended X-ray observations of their intracluster plasma (ICP). The few intrinsic parameters of the model-basically, the central level and the outer slope of the entropy profile-enable us to uniformly derive not only robust snapshots of the ICP thermal state, but also the 'concentration' parameter marking the age of the host dark matter (DM) halo. We test these profiles for consistency with numerical simulations and observations. We find the central and the outer entropy correlate, so that these clusters split into two main classes defined on the basis of low (LE) or high entropy (HE) conditions prevailing throughout the ICP. We also find inverse correlations between the central/outer entropy and the halo concentration. We interpret these in terms of mapping the ICP progress on timescales around 5 Gyr toward higher concentrations, under the drive of the DM halo development. The progress proceeds from HE clusters to LE clusters, toward states of deeper entropy erosion by radiative cooling in the inner regions and of decreasing outer entropy production as the accretion peters out. We propose these radial and time features constitute a cluster Grand Design that we use here to derive a number of predictions. For HE clusters we predict sustained outer temperature profiles. For LEs we expect the outer entropy ramp to bend over; hence the temperature declines before steepening at low z; this feature goes together with an increasing turbulent support, a condition that can be directly probed with the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. We finally discuss the looming out of two intermediate subsets: a wiggled HE-tilde at low z that features central temperature profiles retaining imprints of entropy discharged by active galactic nuclei or deep mergers and high-z LEs where the cosmogony/cosmology had little time to enforce a sharp outer entropy bending.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2011

X-RAY SPECTRAL CURVATURE OF HIGH-FREQUENCY-PEAKED BL LAC OBJECTS: A PREDICTOR FOR THE TeV FLUX

Most of the extragalactic sources detected at TeV energies are BL Lac objects. They belong to the subclass of high-frequency-peaked BL Lac objects (HBLs) exhibiting spectral energy distributions with a lower energy peak in the X-ray band; this is widely interpreted as synchrotron emission from relativistic electrons. The X-ray spectra are generally curved and well described in terms of a log-parabolic shape. In a previous investigation of TeV HBLs (TBLs) we found two correlations between their spectral parameters. (1) The synchrotron peak luminosity L{sub p} increases with its peak energy E{sub p} and (2) the curvature parameter b decreases as E{sub p} increases. The first is consistent with the synchrotron scenario, while the second is expected from statistical/stochastic acceleration mechanisms for the emitting electrons. Here, we present an extensive X-ray analysis of a sample of HBLs observed with XMM-Newton and Swift but undetected at TeV energies (UBLs), to compare their spectral behavior with that of TBLs. Investigating the distributions of their spectral parameters and comparing the TBL X-ray spectra with that of UBLs, we develop a criterion to select the best HBL candidates for future TeV observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2011

FLARING PATTERNS IN BLAZARS

Blazars radiate from relativistic jets launched by a supermassive black hole along our line of sight; the subclass of flat spectrum radio quasars exhibits broad emission lines, a telltale sign of a gas-rich environment and high accretion rate, contrary to the other subclass of the BL Lacertae objects. We show that this dichotomy of the sources in physical properties is enhanced in their flaring activity. The BL Lac flares yielded spectral evidence of being driven by further acceleration of highly relativistic electrons in the jet. Here, we discuss spectral fits of multi-{lambda} data concerning strong flares of the two flat spectrum radio quasars 3C 454.3 and 3C 279 recently detected in {gamma}-rays by the AGILE and Fermi satellites. We find that optimal spectral fits are provided by external Compton radiation enhanced by increasing production of thermal seed photons by growing accretion. We find such flares to trace patterns on the jet-power-electron-energy plane that diverge from those followed by flaring BL Lac objects and discuss why these occur.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗