Clusters of galaxies

Abstract

Recent results of international research work on galaxy clusters by X-ray astronomy are compiled and discussed. The given examples illustrate that clusters have become increasingly important cosmological probes and are also important tracers of the large-scale structure of the matter distribution in the Universe. By probing the X-ray emitting intracluster gas and with new results from the ASCA satellite exact cluster mass profiles can be derived. X-ray images clearly show a high frequency of substructure in cluster giving evidence that clusters are still evolving by accretion, setting thus a lower limit to the mean density of the Universe. The discovery of gravitational lensing has provided an alternative way of cluster mass determination. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: RN 9303(321) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman