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The luminous material in clusters of galaxies falls primarily into two forms - the visible galaxies and the X-ray emitting intracluster medium. The hot intracluster medium is the major observed baryonic component of clusters, with a mass equal to or greater than that of the stellar matter. In this paper changes in the efficiency of galaxy formation for different clusters and the origin of the intracluster medium are discussed.
The luminous material in clusters of galaxies falls primarily into two forms: the visible galaxies and the X-ray emitting intracluster medium. The hot intracluster medium is the major observed baryonic component of clusters with a mass equal to or greater than that of the stellar matter. In this paper, the structure and morphology of rich clusters as inferred from X-ray observations of the ICM are reviewed. Changes in the efficiency of galaxy formation for different clusters and the origin of the intracluster medium are also discussed.
We introduce the cosmological HYPER code based on an innovative hydro-particle-mesh (HPM) algorithm for efficient and rapid simulations of gas and dark matter. For the HPM algorithm, we update the approach of Gnedin & Hui to expand the scope of its application from the lower-density intergalactic medium (IGM) to the higher-density intracluster medium (ICM). While the original algorithm tracks only one effective particle species, the updated version separately tracks the gas and dark matter particles, as they do not exactly trace each other on small scales. For the approximate hydrodynamics solver, the pressure term in the gas equations of motion is calculated using robust physical models. In particular, we use a dark matter halo model, ICM pressure profile, and IGM temperature–density relation, all of which can be systematically varied for parameter-space studies. We show that the HYPER simulation results are in good agreement with the halo model expectations for the density, temperature, and pressure radial profiles. Simulated galaxy cluster scaling relations for Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) and X-ray observables are also in good agreement with mean predictions, with scatter comparable to that found in hydrodynamic simulations. HYPER also produces lightcone catalogs of dark matter halos and full-sky tomographic maps of the lensing convergence, SZ effect, and X-ray emission. These simulation products are useful for testing data analysis pipelines, generating training data for machine learning, understanding selection and systematic effects, and for interpreting astrophysical and cosmological constraints.
Cold clouds embedded in hot turbulent gas are often observed in the interstellar medium of galaxies and in the intracluster medium. Mixing layers develop around the clouds by the action of the turbulent gas. It is shown that their column density is limited by cooling and their mean temperature by the momentum flux. Provided that mixing is efficient, the mean temperature is the geometric mean of the hot and cold gas temperatures. EUV radiation from mixing layers around filaments in cluster cooling flows photoionizes the colder gas and may produce the commonly observed optical and UV emission lines. Mixing layers around cold galactic clouds can produce absorption by O VI and similar species with a column density consistent with observations.
Constraints on the clustered mass density of the universe derived from the observed population mean intracluster gas fraction of x-ray clusters may be biased by reliance on a single-phase assumption for the thermodynamic structure of the intracluster medium (ICM). We propose a descriptive model for multiphase structure in which a spherically symmetric ICM contains isobaric density perturbations with a radially dependent variance. Fixing the x-ray emission and emission weighted temperature, we explore two independently observable signatures of the model in the parameter space. For bremsstrahlung dominated emission, the central Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) decrement in the multiphase case is increased over the single-phase case and multiphase x-ray spectra in the range 0.1-20 keV are flatter in the continuum and exhibit stronger low energy emission lines than their single-phase counterpart. We quantify these effects for a fiducial 10e8 K cluster and demonstrate how the combination of SZ and x-ray spectroscopy can be used to identify a preferred location in the plane of the model parameter space. From these parameters the correct value of mean intracluster gas fraction in the multiphase model results, allowing an unbiased estimate of clustered mass density to he recovered.
Results of N-body + hydrodynamic simulations designed to model the formation and evolution of clusters of galaxies and intracluster gas are presented. Clusters of galaxies are the largest bound, relaxed objects in the universe. They are strong x-ray emitters; this radiation originates through thermal bremsstrahlung from a diffuse plasma filling the space between cluster galaxies, the intracluster medium or ICM. From observations, one can infer that the mass of the ICM is comparable to or greater than the mass of all the galaxies in the cluster, and that the ratio of mass in hot gas to mass in galaxies, M(sub ICM)/M(sub STARS), increases with the richness of the cluster. Spectroscopic studies of cluster x-ray emission show heavy element emission lines. While M(sub ICM)/M(sub STARS) is greater than or equal to 1 implies that most of the ICM is primordial in nature, the discovery of heavy elements indicates that some of the gas must have been processed through galaxies. Galaxy evolution thus directly impacts cluster evolution.
We detail method and report first results from a three-dimensional hydrodynamical and N-body simulation of the formation and evolution of a Coma-sized cluster of galaxies, with the intent of studying the history of the hot, X-ray emitting intracluster medium. Cluster gas, galaxies, and dark matter are included in the model. The galaxies and dark matter fell gravitational forces; the cluster gas also undergoes hydrodynamical effects such as shock heating and PdV work. For the first time in three dimensions, we include modeling of ejection of processed gas from the simulated galaxies by winds, including heating and heavy element enrichment. For comparison, we employ a `pure infall' simulation using the same initial conditions but with no galaxies or winds. We employ an extreme ejection history for galactic feedback in order to define the boundary of likely models. As expected, feedback raises the entropy of the intracluster gas, preventing it from collapsing to densities as high as those attained in the infall model. The effect is more pronounced in subclusters formed at high redshift. The cluster with feedback is always less X-ray luminous, but experiences more rapid luminosity evolution, than the pure infall cluster. Even employing an extreme ejection model, the final gas temperature is only approximately 15% larger than in the infall model. The radial temperature profile is very nearly isothermal within 1.5 Mpc. The cluster galaxies in the feedback model have a velocity dispersion approximately 15% lower than the dark matter. This results in the true ratio of specific energies in galaxies to gas being less than one, beta(sub spec) approximately 0.7. The infall model predicts beta(sub spec) approximately 1.2. Large excursions in these values occur over time, following the complex dynamical history of the cluster. The morphology of the X-ray emission is little affected by feedback. The emission profiles of both clusters are well described by the standard beta-model with beta(sub fit) approximately equal to 0.7 - 0.9. X-ray mass estimates based on the assumptions of hydrostatic equilibrium and the applicability of the beta-model are quite accurate in both cases. A strong, radial iron abundance gradient is present, which develops as a consequence of the steepening of the galaxy density profile over time. Spectroscopic observations using nonimaging detectors with wide (approximately 45 min) fields of view dramatically smear the gradient. Observations with arcminute resolution, made available with the ASCA satellite, would readily resolve the gradient.
Observations have been made of 18 distance class 5 and 6 Abell clusters of galaxies using the VLA in its 'C' configuration at a frequency of 1460 MHz. Half of the clusters in the sample are confirmed or probable sources of X-ray emission. All the detected radio sources with flux densities above 10 mJy are reported, and information is provided concerning the angular extent of the sources, as well as the most likely optical identification. The existence of an extensive intracluster medium is inferred by identifying extended/distorted radio sources with galaxies whose apparent magnitudes are consistent with their being cluster members and that are at projected distances of 3-4 Abell radii (6-8 Mpc) from the nearest cluster center. By requiring that the radio sources are confined by the ambient medium, the ambient density is calculated and the total cluster mass is estimated. As a sample calculation, a wide-angle-tail radio source some 5 Mpc from the center of Abell 348 is used to estimate these quantities.
ABSTRACT We present the first in-depth study of X-ray emission from a nearby (z ∼ 0.0784) galaxy cluster Abell 1569 using an archival Chandra observation. A1569 consists of two unbound subclusters – a northern subcluster (A1569N) hosting a double-lobed radio galaxy 1233+169 at its centre, and a southern subcluster (A1569S) harbouring a wide-angle-tailed (WAT) radio source 1233+168. X-ray emission from A1569N and A1569S extends to a radius r ∼248 kpc and r ∼370 kpc, respectively, indicating that the two gas clumps are group-scale systems. The two subclusters have low X-ray luminosities (∼1042–43 erg s−1), average elemental abundances ∼1/4 Z⊙, low average temperatures (∼2 keV), and lack large (r ≳ 40–50 kpc) cool cores associated with the intracluster gas. We detect a pair of cavities coincident with the radio lobes of 1233+169 in A1569N. The total mechanical power associated with the cavity pair is an order of magnitude larger than the X-ray radiative loss in the cavity-occupied region, providing corroborating evidence for cavity-induced heating of the intragroup gas in A1569N. A1569S exhibits possible evidence for a small-scale cluster-subcluster merger, as indicated by its high central entropy, and the presence of local gas elongation and a density discontinuity in between the bent radio tails of 1233+168. The discontinuity is indicative of a weak merger shock with Mach Number, M ∼ 1.7. The most plausible geometry for the ongoing interaction is a head-on merger occurring between A1569S and a subcluster falling in from the west along the line bisecting the WAT tails.
The potential implications of future measurements of the heavy-element abundances in intracluster gas are considered in the framework of the cold-dark-matter scenario of structure formation in the early universe (Blumenthal et al., 1984). Particular attention is given to the correlation between the M(gas)/M(stellar) ratio and the gas temperature in groups and clusters of galaxies found by Jones et al. (1989) and its relationship to the efficiency of galaxy formation. Quantitative predictions for the correlation between Fe abundance and gas temperature are presented in graphs and discussed in detail.
Feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs) is believed to be the most promising solution to the cooling flow problem in cool-core clusters. Dissipation of sound waves is considered as one of the possible heating mechanisms; however, its relative contribution to heating remains unclear. To estimate the energy budget for heating, we perform 3D hydrodynamic simulations of AGN jet injections in a Perseus-like cluster and quantify the amount of energy stored in the forms of weak shocks and waves. For this work, e find that, for a single jet injection with typical parameters in cool-core clusters, ${\sim}9{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the total jet energy is stored in compressional waves (including both shocks and waves). However, due to the destructive effects among randomly phased waves as well as the dissipation of shock energies, in our simulations including self-regulated AGN feedback, no more than $3{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the total injected energy goes into compressional waves. We further separate the energy contribution from shocks and waves and find that, for a single outburst, the shocks can only contribute to ${\sim}20{-}30{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the total compressional energy in the inner radii and quickly dissipate away. In the self-regulated case where shocks are repeatedly generated, shocks completely dominate over sound waves in the inner region and can still provide ${\sim}40{-}50{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the total compressional energy at outer radii. Our results suggest that the production of sound waves is not as efficient as what was previously found, and thus sound wave dissipation may be a subdominant source of heating in cool-core clusters.
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X-ray fluxes from HEAO-1 A2 and Einstein Imaging Proportional Counter (IPC) observations of clusters of galaxies were used to constrain the parameter beta in the isothermal surface brightness profile. Beta is found primarily to have values between .50 and .75 for 15 clusters. Eight of these objects have values of beta previously measured using imaging observations. For these clusters good agreement is found with the values reported here implying that this profile is a good description of the surface brightness out to 8 to 10 core radii. The total gas mass and radial distribution (assuming spherical symmetry) within the cluster resulting from the isothermal model imply an extended halo of hot gas which has 30 to 60% of the virial mass for some clusters.
HEAO-1 A-2 and Einstein Observatory IPC observations of 15 clusters of galaxies have been used to measure the isothermal beta-model parameters, and the parameters are compared with those derived from model fits to the X-ray images. The physical constraints imposed on this model by existing optical data, the implied gas mass, and the gas contribution to the binding cluster mass are addressed. Values of beta less than unity are obtained, consistent with results from X-ray imaging data. This is interpreted to imply that the gas extends out to 8-10 core radii, about 2-3 Mpc. The isothermal gas mass can be as large as 60 percent of the virial mass for some clusters. This contradicts the fundamental assumption that the cluster potential is determined by an unseen mass which is given by the King approximation to an isothermal sphere, and it is concluded that the isothermal model is a nonphysical model.
IRAS images of 56 clusters of galaxies are examined for evidence of diffuse, extended FIR emission at 60 and 100 microns. Of these 56 clusters, five show evidence of FIR excess, but at low levels of significance. For A496 and MKW 1, this excess is attributable to the presence of a strong point source at or near the position of the central cD galaxy. In A2344, the observed 100-micron excess is the result of the presence of a foreground cirrus concentration which coincides with the cluster. Examination of the sample as a whole indicates that clusters exhibit excess FIR emission at the 2-sigma level for apertures 4 and 10 arcmin in diameter. FIR luminosities range from about 1-0 exp 9 solar luminosities for the smallest aperture to about 10 exp 14 solar luminosities for the entire cluster.
The 50 ksec XMM observations of the galaxy cluster 3C 129 were taken as scheduled, and the data are of good quality. We analyzed the data in the following way. After standard cleaning, we flat-fielded the XMM surface brightness maps. Combining the data from the EPIC MOS and PN Camera CCDs, we performed a cross-correlation analysis of the X-ray surface brightness distribution with the 1.4 GHz VLA radio map. We found evidence for cavities in the X-ray emitting Intra-Cluster Medium (ICM) associated with the radio tail of the head-tail radio galaxy 3C 129. This discovery is very interesting as it excludes the presence of a large fraction of thermal plasma in the radio tail. Together with the observation of an apparent pressure mismatch between the radio plasma and the ICM, and an upper limit on the magnetic field inside the radio tail (from the radio spectral indices map) the observation implies that the tail pressure is dominated either by low-energy electrons/positrons, or, by relativistic protons. Furthermore, we studied the energy spectrum of an X-ray "hot-spot" associated with the head of the radio galaxy 3C 129. It seems likely that the X-ray hot-spot originates from shocked gas in front of the radio galaxy. , The analysis turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated. The main reason is the lack of a comprehensive, publicly available background model that is key for the analysis of extended sources. Small groups like our do not have the man-power to come up with a background model themselves. We used the model from Read & Ponman (A&A 409, 395, 2003). However, the background subtracted X-ray surface brightness maps show a bright ring in the outer 20% of the camera. We tried to get rid of this ring and contacted the XMM helpdesk and Read & Ponman, the authors of the background paper. However, up to this day, we did not entirely succeed to remove the brightness enhancement at the outer parts of the camera. Unfortunately, our results are somewhat sensitive to the uncertainty, as the radio galaxy 3C 129 is very large and occupies a rather large fraction of the XMM field of view. We are now working on a paper describing the results. The paper will include a detailed discussion of the uncertainties associated with the non- perfect background subtraction.
Investigates the rich cluster Abell 2029 (z~0.08) using optical imaging and long-slit spectral observations of 52 disk galaxies distributed throughout the cluster field.