A deep dive: Chandra observations of the NGC 4839 group falling into the Coma cluster

Cosmological simulations of structure formation predict that galaxy clusters continue to grow and evolve through ongoing mergers with group-scale systems. During these merging events, the ram pressure applied by the intracluster medium acts to strip the gas from the infalling groups, forming large tails of stripped gas, which eventually become part of the main cluster. In this work, we present a detailed analysis of our new deep Chandra observations of the NGC 4839 group falling into the nearby Coma cluster, providing a unique opportunity to explore the way galaxy clusters in the local universe continue to grow. Our analysis reveals a cold front feature at the leading head of the group, preceded by a bow shock of hot gas in front with a Mach number of $\sim\! 1.5$. The power spectrum of surface brightness fluctuations in the tail shows that the slope gets less steep as the distance from the leading head increases, changing from $-2.35_{-0.06}^{+0.07}$ at the inner part of the tail to $-1.37_{-0.07}^{+0.09}$ at the outermost part of the tail. These values are shallower than the slope of the Kolmogorov 2D power spectrum, indicating that thermal conduction is being suppressed throughout the tail, enabling long-lived small-scale turbulence, which would typically be washed out if thermal conduction was not inhibited. The characteristic amplitude of surface brightness fluctuations in the tail suggests a mild level of turbulence with a Mach number in the range of 0.1-0.5, agreeing with that found for the infalling group in Abell 2142.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Understanding Islam: Development, Economics and Finance

In this paper, the foundational rules governing human, economic and financial development in Islam, as understood from the Quran and from the life and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), are summarized. These rules pave the path to development as the basis of institutional structure, which in turn, underpin the path of economic and social progress. The essential elements in the life of a Muslim—the unity of creation, freedom and freedom of choice, economic and human development, economic system and financial practice—are developed

Higher ethical objective (Maqasid al-Shari'ah) augmented framework for Islamic banks : assessing the ethical performance and exploring its determinants.

This study utilises higher objectives postulated in Islamic moral economy or the maqasid al-Shari’ah theoretical framework’s novel approach in evaluating the ethical, social, environmental and financial performance of Islamic banks. Maqasid al-Shari’ah is interpreted as achieving social good as a consequence in addition to well-being and, hence, it goes beyond traditional (voluntary) social responsibility. This study also explores the major determinants that affect maqasid performance as expressed through disclosure analysis. By expanding the traditional maqasid al-Shari’ah,, we develop a comprehensive evaluation framework in the form of a maqasid index, which is subjected to a rigorous disclosure analysis. Furthermore, in identifying the main determinants of the maqasid disclosure performance, panel data analysis is used by including several key variables alongside political and socio-economic environment, ownership structures, and corporate and Shari’ah governance-related factors. The sample includes 33 full-fledged Islamic banks from 12 countries for the period of 2008–2016. The findings show that although during the nine-year period the disclosure of maqasid performance of the sampled Islamic banks has improved, this is still short of ‘best practices’. Through panel data analysis, this study finds that the Muslim population indicator, CEO duality, Shari’ah governance, and leverage variables positively impact the disclosure of maqasid performance. However, the effect of GDP, financial development and human development index of the country, its political and civil rights, institutional ownership, and a higher share of independent directors have an overall negative impact on the maqasid performance. The findings reported in this study identify complex and multi-faceted relations between external market realities, corporate and Shari’ah governance mechanisms, and maqasid performance

Is there an enormous cold front at the virial radius of the Perseus cluster?

We present new XMM-Newton observations extending the mosaic of the Perseus cluster out to the virial radius to the west. Previous studies with ROSAT have reported a large excess in surface brightness to the west, possibly the result of large-scale gas sloshing. In our new XMM-Newton observations we have found two X-ray surface brightness edges at 1.2 and 1.7 Mpc to the west. The temperature measurements obtained with Suzaku data indicate that the temperature increases sharply at each edge, consistent with what would be expected from cold fronts. However the the XMM-Newton data are affected by stray light, which at present is a poorly understood source of systematic error that can also lead to curved features in X-ray images. To test our results, we compared our X-ray surface brightness profile with that obtained from ROSAT PSPC data. While the edge at 1.2 Mpc is confirmed by ROSAT PSPC, the ROSAT data quality is insufficient to confirm the outer edge at 1.7 Mpc. Further observations with future X-ray telescopes will be needed to confirm the existence of the outer edge at 1.7 Mpc. By comparing with numerical simulations, we find that these large cold fronts require a large impact parameter, and low-mass ratio mergers that can produce fast gas motions without destroying the cluster core