537 research outputs found
Baryonic Dark Halos: Machos and Cold Gas?
We consider the possibility that the dark matter in the halos of galaxies may
be in the form of clusters of \macho s within which are embedded cold, dense
gas clouds. Microlensing experiments have found evidence that the Galactic halo
contains up to half of its mass in the form of low-mass \macho s. A number of
observational and dynamical arguments point to the existence of hitherto
unobserved cold gas around galaxies. We show that the cold gas can be
stabilized by \macho\ clusters. Within the framework of a simple two-component
model, we derive constraints on the \macho\ clusters and on the halo cold gas
content. Typical cluster masses are \sim 10 \msun, typical \macho\ masses are
\sim 0.01 \msun, and the gas content could be up to of order 50 \%. Various
predictions are given for testing the hypothesis that such objects could
constitute most of the mass in the dark halos of galaxies. If halos are indeed
baryonic and contain significant amounts of cold gas, they are likely to play a
much more active role in galaxy formation and evolution than is commonly
supposed.Comment: 13 pages, submitted to ApJ. Uuencoded, gzip-compressed ps-file
including 2 figures. Also available at
http://www.astro.unibas.ch/~gerhard/papers/dmmn.ps.gz.u
XMM-Newton observation of the relaxed cluster A478: gas and dark matter distribution from 0.01 R_200 to 0.5 R_200
We present an \xmm mosaic observation of the hot ( keV) and nearby
() relaxed cluster of galaxies A478. We derive precise gas density,
gas temperature, gas mass and total mass profiles up to 12\arcmin (about half
of the virial radius ). The gas density profile is highly peaked
towards the center and the surface brightness profile is well fitted by a sum
of three --models. The derived gas density profile is in excellent
agreement, both in shape and in normalization, with the published Chandra
density profile (measured within 5\arcmin of the center). Projection and PSF
effects on the temperature profile determination are thoroughly investigated.
The derived radial temperature structure is as expected for a cluster hosting a
cooling core, with a strong negative gradient at the cluster center. The
temperature rises from keV up to a plateau of keV beyond 2'
(i.e. , Mpc being the virial radius).
From the temperature profile and the density profile and under the hypothesis
of hydrostatic equilibrium, we derived the total mass profile of A478 down to
0.01 and up to 0.5 the virial radius. We tested different dark matter models
against the observed mass profile. The Navarro, Frenk & White
(\cite{navarro97}) model is significantly preferred to other models. It leads
to a total mass of M for a concentration
parameter of . The gas mass fraction slightly increases with
radius. The gas mass fraction at a density contrast of is
\fgas=0.13\pm0.02, consistent with previous results on similar hot and
massive clusters. We confirm the excess of absorption in the direction of
A478.[abridged]Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&A, corrected
typo
A Differential X-Ray Gunn-Peterson Test Using a Giant Cluster Filament
Using CCD detectors onboard the forthcoming X-ray observatories Chandra and
XMM, it is possible to devise a measurement of the absolute density of heavy
elements in the hypothetical warm gas filling intercluster space. This gas may
be the largest reservoir of baryonic matter in the Universe, but even its
existence has not been proven observationally at low redshifts. The proposed
measurement would make use of a unique filament of galaxy clusters spanning
over 700 Mpc (0.1<z<0.2) along the line of sight in a small area of the sky in
Aquarius. The surface density of Abell clusters there is more than 6 times the
sky average. It is likely that the intercluster matter column density is
enhanced by a similar factor, making its detection feasible under certain
optimistic assumptions about its density and elemental abundances. One can
compare photoabsorption depth, mostly in the partially ionized oxygen edges, in
the spectra of clusters at different distances along the filament, looking for
a systematic increase of depth with the distance. The absorption can be
measured by the same detector and through the same Galactic column, hence the
differential test. A CCD moderate energy resolution (about 100 eV) is adequate
for detecting an absorption edge at a known redshift.Comment: Latex, 4 pages, 3 figures, uses emulateapj.sty. ApJ Letters in pres
X-ray Properties of the Abell 644 Cluster of Galaxies
We use new ASCA observations and archival ROSAT Position Sensitive
Proportional Counter (PSPC) data to determine the X-ray spectral properties of
the intracluster gas in Abell 644. From the overall spectrum, we determine the
average gas temperature to be 8.64 (+0.67,-0.56) keV, and an abundance of 0.32
(+/-0.04) . The global ASCA and ROSAT spectra imply a cooling rate
of 214 (+100,-91) yr. The PSPC X-ray surface brightness
profile and the ASCA data suggest a somewhat higher cooling rate. We determine
the gravitational mass and gas mass as a function of radius. The total
gravitating mass within 1.2 Mpc is , of which 20%
is in the form of hot gas. There is a region of elevated temperature 1.5-5
arcmin to the west of the cluster center. The south-southwest region of the
cluster also shows excess emission in the ROSAT PSPC X-ray image, aligned with
the major axis of the optical cD galaxy in the center of the cluster. We argue
that the cluster is undergoing or has recently undergone a minor merger. The
combination of a fairly strong cooling flow and evidence for a merger make this
cluster an interesting case to test the disruption of cooling flow in mergers.Comment: 26 pages LaTeX including 9 eps figures + 4 pages LaTeX tables
(landscape); accepted to ApJ, uses aaspp
Quasi-hydrostatic intracluster gas under radiative cooling
Quasi-hydrostatic cooling of the intracluster gas is studied. In the
quasi-hydrostatic model, work done by gravity on the inflow gas with dP \neq 0,
where P is the gas pressure, is taken into account in the thermal balance. The
gas flows in from the outer part so as to compensate the pressure loss of the
gas undergoing radiative cooling, but the mass flow is so moderate and smooth
that the gas is considered to be quasi-hydrostatic. The temperature of the
cooling gas decreases toward the cluster center, but, unlike cooling flows with
dP = 0, approaches a constant temperature of \sim 1/3 the temperature of the
non-cooling ambient gas. This does not mean that gravitational work cancels out
radiative cooling, but means that the temperature of the cooling gas appears to
approach a constant value toward the cluster center if the gas maintains the
quasi-hydrostatic balance. We discuss the mass flow in quasi-hydrostatic
cooling, and compare it with the standard isobaric cooling flow model. We also
discuss the implication of \dot{M} for the standard cooling flow model.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in A&
A Large Mass of H2 in the Brightest Cluster Galaxy in Zwicky 3146
We present the Spitzer/IRS mid-infrared spectrum of the infrared-luminous
(L_{IR}=4e11 L_sun) brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) in the X-ray-luminous
cluster Z3146 (z=0.29). The spectrum shows strong aromatic emission features,
indicating that the dominant source of the infrared luminosity is star
formation. The most striking feature of the spectrum, however, is the
exceptionally strong molecular hydrogen (H2) emission lines, which seem to be
shock-excited. The line luminosities and inferred warm H2 gas mass (~1e10
M_sun) are 6 times larger than those of NGC 6240, the most H2-luminous galaxy
at z <~ 0.1. Together with the large amount of cold H2 detected previously
(~1e11 M_sun), this indicates that the Z3146 BCG contains disproportionately
large amounts of both warm and cold H2 gas for its infrared luminosity, which
may be related to the intracluster gas cooling process in the cluster core.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; Accepted for publication in ApJ
An infrared survey of brightest cluster galaxies: Paper I
We report on an imaging survey with the Spitzer Space Telescope of 62
brightest cluster galaxies with optical line emission. These galaxies are
located in the cores of X-ray luminous clusters selected from the ROSAT All-Sky
Survey. We find that about half of these sources have a sign of excess infrared
emission; 22 objects out of 62 are detected at 70 microns, 18 have 8 to 5.8
micron flux ratios above 1.0 and 28 have 24 to 8 micron flux ratios above 1.0.
Altogether 35 of 62 objects in our survey exhibit at least one of these signs
of infrared excess. Four galaxies with infrared excesses have a 4.5/3.6 micron
flux ratio indicating the presence of hot dust, and/or an unresolved nucleus at
8 microns. Three of these have high measured [OIII](5007A)/Hbeta flux ratios
suggesting that these four, Abell 1068, Abell 2146, and Zwicky 2089, and
R0821+07, host dusty active galactic nuclei (AGNs). 9 objects (including the
four hosting dusty AGNs) have infrared luminosities greater than 10^11 L_sol
and so can be classified as luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs). Excluding the
four systems hosting dusty AGNs, the excess mid-infrared emission in the
remaining brightest cluster galaxies is likely related to star formation.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ
Ionized nebulae surrounding brightest cluster galaxies
We present IFU observations of six emission-line nebulae that surround the
central galaxy of cool core clusters. Qualitatively similar nebulae are
observed in cool core clusters even when the dynamics and possibly formation
and excitation source are different. Evidence for a nearby secondary galaxy
disturbing a nebula, as well as AGN and starburst driven outflows are presented
as possible formation mechanisms. One nebula has a rotation velocity of the
same amplitude as the underlying molecular reservoir, which implies that the
excitation or formation of a nebula does not require any disturbance of the
molecular reservoir within the central galaxy. Bulk flows and velocity shears
of a few hundred km/s are seen across all nebulae. The majority lack any
ordered rotation, their configurations are not stable so the nebulae must be
constantly reshaping, dispersing and reforming. The dimmer nebulae are
co-spatial with dust features whilst the more luminous are not. Significant
variation in the ionization state of the gas is seen in all nebulae through the
non-uniform [NII]/H_alpha ratio. There is no correlation between the line ratio
and H_alpha surface brightness, but regions with excess blue or UV light have
lower line ratios. This implies that UV from massive, young stars act in
combination with an underlying heating source that produces the observed
low-ionization spectra.Comment: 12 pages, accepted for publication in MNRA
ARCRAIDER I: Detailed optical and X-ray analysis of the cooling flow cluster Z3146
We present a detailed analysis of the medium redshift (z=0.2906) galaxy
cluster Z3146 which is part of the ongoing ARCRAIDER project, a systematic
search for gravitational arcs in massive clusters of galaxies. The analysis of
Z3146 is based on deep optical wide field observations in the B, V and R bands
obtained with the [email protected], and shallow archival WFPC2@HST taken with the
F606W filter, which are used for strong as well as weak lensing analyses.
Additionally we have used publicly available XMM/Newton observations for a
detailed X-ray analysis of Z3146. Both methods, lensing and X-ray, were used to
determine the dynamical state and to estimate the total mass. We also
identified four gravitational arc candidates. We find this cluster to be in a
relaxed state, which is confirmed by a large cooling flow with nominal
~1600M_\odot per year, regular galaxy density and light distributions and a
regular shape of the weak lensing mass reconstruction. The mass content derived
with the different methods agrees well within 25% at r_{200}=1661
h_{70}^{-1}kpc indicating a velocity dispersion of
\sigma_v=869^{+124}_{-153}km/s.Comment: accepted by A&A; 23 pages, 28 figures, 6 tables; High resolution
version can be found here:
http://astro.uibk.ac.at/~w.kausch/Z3146_astroph_hires.pdf.g
The Properties of Poor Groups of Galaxies: II. X-ray and Optical Comparisons
We use ROSAT PSPC data to study the X-ray properties of a sample of twelve
poor groups that have extensive membership information (Zabludoff and Mulchaey
1997; Paper I). Diffuse X-ray emission is detected in nine of these groups. In
all but one of the X-ray detected groups, the X-ray emission is centered on a
luminous elliptical galaxy. Fits to the surface brightness profiles of the
X-ray emission suggest the presence of two X-ray components in these groups.
The first component is centered on the central elliptical galaxy. The location
and extent of this component, combined with its X-ray temperature and
luminosity, favor an origin in the interstellar medium of the central galaxy.
Alternatively, the central component may be the result of a large-scale cooling
flow. The second X-ray component is detected out to a radius of at least
100-300 kpc. This component follows the same relationships found among the
X-ray temperature, X-ray luminosity and optical velocity dispersion of rich
clusters. This result suggests that the X-ray detected groups are low-mass
versions of clusters and that the extended gas component can properly be called
the intragroup medium, in analogy to the intracluster medium in clusters. We
also find a trend for the position angle of the optical light in the central
elliptical galaxy to align with the position angle of the large-scale X-ray
emission. (Abridged)Comment: 38 pages, AASLaTeX with 16 PS figures. Figure 1a-1l available in
gzipped postscript format at ftp://corvus.ociw.edu/pub/mulchae
- âŠ