The effect of feedback on the emission properties of the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium

At present, 30-40 per cent of the baryons in the local Universe is still undetected. According to theoretical predictions, this gas should reside in filaments filling the large-scale structure (LSS) in the form of a Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM), at temperatures of 10^5 - 10^7 K, thus emitting in the soft X-ray energies via free-free interaction and line emission from heavy elements. In this work we characterize the properties of the X-ray emission of the WHIM, and the LSS in general, focusing on the influence of different physical mechanisms, namely galactic winds (GWs), black-hole feedback and star-formation, and providing estimates of possible observational constraints. To this purpose we use a set of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations that include a self-consistent treatment of star-formation and chemical enrichment of the intergalactic medium, that allows us to follow the evolution of different metal species. We construct a set of simulated light-cones to make predictions of the emission in the 0.3-10 keV energy range. We obtain that GWs increase by a factor of 2 the emission of both galaxy clusters and WHIM. The amount of oxygen at average temperature and, consequently, the amount of expected bright Ovii and Oviii lines is increased by a factor of 3 due to GWs and by 20 per cent when assuming a top-heavy IMF. We compare our results with current observational constraints and find that the emission from faint groups and WHIM should account from half to all of the unresolved X-ray background in the 1-2 keV band.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in the MNRAS. Minor changes after referee repor

The XMM Cluster Outskirts Project (X-COP): Physical conditions to the virial radius of Abell 2142

Context. Galaxy clusters are continuously growing through the accretion of matter in their outskirts. This process induces inhomogeneities in the gas density distribution (clumping) which need to be taken into account to recover the physical properties of the intracluster medium (ICM) at large radii. Aims. We studied the thermodynamic properties in the outskirts (R > R500) of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 2142 by combining the Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SZ) effect with the X-ray signal. Methods. We combined the SZ pressure profile measured by Planck with the XMM-Newton gas density profile to recover radial profiles of temperature, entropy and hydrostatic mass out to 2R500. We used a method that is insensitive to clumping to recover the gas density, and we compared the results with traditional X-ray measurement techniques. Results. When taking clumping into account, our joint SZ/X-ray entropy profile is consistent with the predictions from pure gravitational collapse, whereas a significant entropy flattening is found when the effect of clumping is neglected. The hydrostatic mass profile recovered using joint X-ray/SZ data agrees with that obtained from spectroscopic X-ray measurements and with mass reconstructions obtained through weak lensing and galaxy kinematics. Conclusions. We found that clumping can explain the entropy flattening observed by Suzaku in the outskirts of several clusters. When using a method insensitive to clumping for the reconstruction of the gas density, the thermodynamic properties of Abell 2142 are compatible with the assumption that the thermal gas pressure sustains gravity and that the entropy is injected at accretion shocks, with no need to evoke more exotic physics. Our results highlight the need for X-ray observations with sufficient spatial resolution, and large collecting area, to understand the processes at work in cluster outer regions.Comment: 22 pages, 32 figures, accepted in the journal A&

Searching for galaxy clusters in the Kilo-Degree Survey

In this paper, we present the tools used to search for galaxy clusters in the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS), and our first results. The cluster detection is based on an implementation of the optimal filtering technique that enables us to identify clusters as over-densities in the distribution of galaxies using their positions on the sky, magnitudes, and photometric redshifts. The contamination and completeness of the cluster catalog are derived using mock catalogs based on the data themselves. The optimal signal to noise threshold for the cluster detection is obtained by randomizing the galaxy positions and selecting the value that produces a contamination of less than 20%. Starting from a subset of clusters detected with high significance at low redshifts, we shift them to higher redshifts to estimate the completeness as a function of redshift: the average completeness is ~ 85%. An estimate of the mass of the clusters is derived using the richness as a proxy. We obtained 1858 candidate clusters with redshift 0 < z_c < 0.7 and mass 13.5 < log(M500/Msun) < 15 in an area of 114 sq. degrees (KiDS ESO-DR2). A comparison with publicly available Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-based cluster catalogs shows that we match more than 50% of the clusters (77% in the case of the redMaPPer catalog). We also cross-matched our cluster catalog with the Abell clusters, and clusters found by XMM and in the Planck-SZ survey; however, only a small number of them lie inside the KiDS area currently available.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication on Astronomy & Astrophysic

Studying the WHIM with Gamma Ray Bursts

We assess the possibility to detect and characterize the physical state of the missing baryons at low redshift by analyzing the X-ray absorption spectra of the Gamma Ray Burst [GRB] afterglows, measured by a micro calorimeters-based detector with 3 eV resolution and 1000 cm2 effective area and capable of fast re-pointing, similar to that on board of the recently proposed X-ray satellites EDGE and XENIA. For this purpose we have analyzed mock absorption spectra extracted from different hydrodynamical simulations used to model the properties of the Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium [WHIM]. These models predict the correct abundance of OVI absorption lines observed in UV and satisfy current X-ray constraints. According to these models space missions like EDGE and XENIA should be able to detect about 60 WHIM absorbers per year through the OVII line. About 45 % of these have at least two more detectable lines in addition to OVII that can be used to determine the density and the temperature of the gas. Systematic errors in the estimates of the gas density and temperature can be corrected for in a robust, largely model-independent fashion. The analysis of the GRB absorption spectra collected in three years would also allow to measure the cosmic mass density of the WHIM with about 15 % accuracy, although this estimate depends on the WHIM model. Our results suggest that GRBs represent a valid, if not preferable, alternative to Active Galactic Nuclei to study the WHIM in absorption. The analysis of the absorption spectra nicely complements the study of the WHIM in emission that the spectrometer proposed for EDGE and XENIA would be able to carry out thanks to its high sensitivity and large field of view.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication by Ap

The nature of the unresolved extragalactic soft CXB

In this paper we investigate the power spectrum of the unresolved 0.5-2 keV CXB with deep Chandra 4 Ms observations in the CDFS. We measured a signal which, on scales >30", is significantly higher than the Shot-Noise and is increasing with the angular scale. We interpreted this signal as the joint contribution of clustered undetected sources like AGN, Galaxies and Inter-Galactic-Medium (IGM). The power of unresolved cosmic sources fluctuations accounts for \sim 12% of the 0.5-2 keV extragalactic CXB. Overall, our modeling predicts that \sim 20% of the unresolved CXB flux is made by low luminosity AGN, \sim 25% by galaxies and \sim 55% by the IGM (Inter Galactic Medium). We do not find any direct evidence of the so called Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium (i.e. matter with 10^5K<T<10^7K and density contrast {\delta} <1000), but we estimated that it could produce about 1/7 of the unresolved CXB. We placed an upper limit to the space density of postulated X-ray-emitting early black hole at z>7.5 and compared it with SMBH evolution models.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, accepted by MNRA

Towards a Holistic View of the Heating and Cooling of the Intracluster Medium

(Abridged) X-ray clusters are conventionally divided into two classes: "cool core" (CC) clusters and "non-cool core" (NCC) clusters. Yet relatively little attention has been given to the origins of this dichotomy and, in particular, to the energetics and thermal histories of the two classes. We develop a model for the entropy profiles of clusters starting from the configuration established by gravitational shock heating and radiative cooling. At large radii, gravitational heating accounts for the observed profiles and their scalings well. However, at small and intermediate radii, radiative cooling and gravitational heating cannot be combined to explain the observed profiles of either type of cluster. The inferred entropy profiles of NCC clusters require that material is preheated prior to cluster collapse in order to explain the absence of low entropy (cool) material in these systems. We show that a similar modification is also required in CC clusters in order to match their properties at intermediate radii. In CC clusters, this modification is unstable, and an additional process is required to prevent cooling below a temperature of a few keV. We show that this can be achieved by adding a self-consistent AGN feedback loop in which the lowest-entropy, most rapidly cooling material is heated so that it rises buoyantly to mix with material at larger radii. The resulting model does not require fine tuning and is in excellent agreement with a wide variety of observational data. Some of the other implications of this model are briefly discussed.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, MNRAS accepted. Discussion of cluster heating energetics extended, results unchange

The gas distribution in the outer regions of galaxy clusters

We present the analysis of a local (z = 0.04 - 0.2) sample of 31 galaxy clusters with the aim of measuring the density of the X-ray emitting gas in cluster outskirts. We compare our results with numerical simulations to set constraints on the azimuthal symmetry and gas clumping in the outer regions of galaxy clusters. We exploit the large field-of-view and low instrumental background of ROSAT/PSPC to trace the density of the intracluster gas out to the virial radius. We perform a stacking of the density profiles to detect a signal beyond r200 and measure the typical density and scatter in cluster outskirts. We also compute the azimuthal scatter of the profiles with respect to the mean value to look for deviations from spherical symmetry. Finally, we compare our average density and scatter profiles with the results of numerical simulations. As opposed to some recent Suzaku results, and confirming previous evidence from ROSAT and Chandra, we observe a steepening of the density profiles beyond \sim r500. Comparing our density profiles with simulations, we find that non-radiative runs predict too steep density profiles, whereas runs including additional physics and/or treating gas clumping are in better agreement with the observed gas distribution. We report for the first time the high-confidence detection of a systematic difference between cool-core and non-cool core clusters beyond \sim 0.3r200, which we explain by a different distribution of the gas in the two classes. Beyond \sim r500, galaxy clusters deviate significantly from spherical symmetry, with only little differences between relaxed and disturbed systems. We find good agreement between the observed and predicted scatter profiles, but only when the 1% densest clumps are filtered out in the simulations. [Abridged]Comment: The data for the average profiles and individual clusters can be downloaded at: http://www.isdc.unige.ch/~deckert/newsite/The_Planck_ROSAT_project.htm

Expected properties of the Two-Point Autocorrelation Function of the IGM

Recent analyses of the fluctuations of the soft Diffuse X-ray Background (DXB) have provided indirect detection of a component consistent with the elusive Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM). In this work we use theoretical predictions obtained from hydrodynamical simulations to investigate the angular correlation properties of the WHIM in emission and assess the possibility of indirect detection with next-generation X-ray missions. Our results indicate that the angular correlation signal of the WHIM is generally weak but dominates the angular correlation function of the DXB outside virialized regions. Its indirect detection is possible but requires rather long exposure times [0.1-1] Ms, large (~1{\deg} x1{\deg}) fields of view and accurate subtraction of isotropic fore/background contributions, mostly contributed by Galactic emission. The angular correlation function of the WHIM is positive for {\theta} < 5' and provides limited information on its spatial distribution. A satisfactory characterization of the WHIM in 3D can be obtained through spatially resolved spectroscopy. 1 Ms long exposures with next generation detectors will allow to detect ~400 O VII+O VIII X-ray emission systems that we use to trace the spatial distribution of the WHIM. We predict that these observations will allow to estimate the WHIM correlation function with high statistical significance out to ~10 Mpc h^-1 and characterize its dynamical state through the analysis of redshift-space distortions. The detectable WHIM, which is typically associated with the outskirts of virialized regions rather than the filaments has a non-zero correlation function with slope {\gamma} = -1.7 \pm 0.1 and correlation length r0 = 4.0 \pm 0.1 Mpc h^-1 in the range r = [4.5, 12] Mpc h^-1. Redshift space distances can be measured to assess the dynamical properties of the gas, typically infalling onto large virialized structures.Comment: 17 pages, 2 tables, 11 figures, Final version, accepted for publication on MNRA

Non-thermal pressure support in X-COP galaxy clusters

Galaxy clusters are the endpoints of structure formation and are continuously growing through the merging and accretion of smaller structures. Numerical simulations predict that a fraction of their energy content is not yet thermalized, mainly in the form of kinetic motions (turbulence, bulk motions). Measuring the level of non-thermal pressure support is necessary to understand the processes leading to the virialization of the gas within the potential well of the main halo and to calibrate the biases in hydrostatic mass estimates. We present high-quality measurements of hydrostatic masses and intracluster gas fraction out to the virial radius for a sample of 13 nearby clusters with available XMM-Newton and Planck data. We compare our hydrostatic gas fractions with the expected universal gas fraction to constrain the level of non-thermal pressure support. We find that hydrostatic masses require little correction and infer a median non-thermal pressure fraction of ∼6% and ∼10% at R500 and R200, respectively. Our values are lower than the expectations of hydrodynamical simulations, possibly implying a faster thermalization of the gas. If instead we use the mass calibration adopted by the Planck team, we find that the gas fraction of massive local systems implies a mass bias 1 − b = 0.85 ± 0.05 for Sunyaev– Zeldovich-derived masses, with some evidence for a mass-dependent bias. Conversely, the high bias required to match Planck cosmic microwave background and cluster count cosmology is excluded by the data at high significance, unless the most massive halos are missing a substantial fraction of their baryons