Comparison of Prestellar Core Elongations and Large-scale Molecular Cloud Structures in the Lupus I Region

Turbulence and magnetic fields are expected to be important for regulating molecular cloud formation and evolution. However, their effects on sub-parsec to 100 parsec scales, leading to the formation of starless cores, are not well understood. We investigate the prestellar core structure morphologies obtained from analysis of the Herschel-SPIRE 350 μm maps of the Lupus I cloud. This distribution is first compared on a statistical basis to the large-scale shape of the main filament. We find the distribution of the elongation position angle of the cores to be consistent with a random distribution, which means no specific orientation of the morphology of the cores is observed with respect to the mean orientation of the large-scale filament in Lupus I, nor relative to a large-scale bent filament model. This distribution is also compared to the mean orientation of the large-scale magnetic fields probed at 350 μm with the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Telescope for Polarimetry during its 2010 campaign. Here again we do not find any correlation between the core morphology distribution and the average orientation of the magnetic fields on parsec scales. Our main conclusion is that the local filament dynamics—including secondary filaments that often run orthogonally to the primary filament—and possibly small-scale variations in the local magnetic field direction, could be the dominant factors for explaining the final orientation of each core

Lupus I Observations from the 2010 Flight of the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry

The Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope for Polarimetry (BLASTPol) was created by adding polarimetric capability to the BLAST experiment that was flown in 2003, 2005, and 2006. BLASTPol inherited BLAST's 1.8 m primary and its Herschel/SPIRE heritage focal plane that allows simultaneous observation at 250, 350, and 500 μm. We flew BLASTPol in 2010 and again in 2012. Both were long duration Antarctic flights. Here we present polarimetry of the nearby filamentary dark cloud Lupus I obtained during the 2010 flight. Despite limitations imposed by the effects of a damaged optical component, we were able to clearly detect submillimeter polarization on degree scales. We compare the resulting BLASTPol magnetic field map with a similar map made via optical polarimetry. (The optical data were published in 1998 by J. Rizzo and collaborators.) The two maps partially overlap and are reasonably consistent with one another. We compare these magnetic field maps to the orientations of filaments in Lupus I, and we find that the dominant filament in the cloud is approximately perpendicular to the large-scale field, while secondary filaments appear to run parallel to the magnetic fields in their vicinities. This is similar to what is observed in Serpens South via near-IR polarimetry, and consistent with what is seen in MHD simulations by F. Nakamura and Z. Li

A new approach to obtaining cluster mass from Sunyaev--Zel'dovich Effect observations

The accurate determination of cluster total mass is crucial for their use as probes of cosmology. Recently, the Sunyaev--Zel'dovich effect (SZE) has been exploited in surveys to find galaxy clusters, but X-ray or lensing follow up observations, or empirically-determined scaling relations between SZE flux and total mass, have been required to estimate their masses. Here we demonstrate a new method of mass determination from SZE observations, applicable in the absence of X-ray or lensing data. This method relies on the virial relation and a minimal set of assumptions, following an approach analogous to that used for stellar structure. By exploiting the virial relation, we implicitly incorporate an additional constraint from thermodynamics that is not used in deriving the equation of hydrostatic equilibrium. This allows us to relate cluster total mass directly to the robustly-determined quantity, the integrated SZE flux.Comment: 5 pages. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters. This includes a correction: the published version neglected surface pressure in the virial theore

The Physics of Galaxy Cluster Outskirts

As the largest virialized structures in the universe, galaxy clusters continue to grow and accrete matter from the cosmic web. Due to the low gas density in the outskirts of clusters, measurements are very challenging, requiring extremely sensitive telescopes across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Observations using X-rays, the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, and weak lensing and galaxy distributions from the optical band, have over the last decade helped to unravel this exciting new frontier of cluster astrophysics, where the infall and virialization of matter takes place. Here, we review the current state of the art in our observational and theoretical understanding of cluster outskirts, and discuss future prospects for exploration using newly planned and proposed observatories.Comment: 56 pages. Review paper. Published in Space Science Review

Three-dimensional Multi-probe Analysis of the Galaxy Cluster A1689

We perform a 3D multi-probe analysis of the rich galaxy cluster A1689 by combining improved weak-lensing data from new BVRi'z' Subaru/Suprime-Cam observations with strong-lensing, X-ray, and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) data sets. We reconstruct the projected matter distribution from a joint weak-lensing analysis of 2D shear and azimuthally integrated magnification constraints, the combination of which allows us to break the mass-sheet degeneracy. The resulting mass distribution reveals elongation with axis ratio ~0.7 in projection. When assuming a spherical halo, our full weak-lensing analysis yields a projected concentration of $c_{200c}^{2D}=8.9\pm 1.1$ ($c_{vir}^{2D}\sim 11$), consistent with and improved from earlier weak-lensing work. We find excellent consistency between weak and strong lensing in the region of overlap. In a parametric triaxial framework, we constrain the intrinsic structure and geometry of the matter and gas distributions, by combining weak/strong lensing and X-ray/SZE data with minimal geometric assumptions. We show that the data favor a triaxial geometry with minor-major axis ratio 0.39+/-0.15 and major axis closely aligned with the line of sight (22+/-10 deg). We obtain $M_{200c}=(1.2\pm 0.2)\times 10^{15} M_{\odot}/h$ and $c_{200c}=8.4\pm 1.3$, which overlaps with the $>1\sigma$ tail of the predicted distribution. The shape of the gas is rounder than the underlying matter but quite elongated with minor-major axis ratio 0.60+/-0.14. The gas mass fraction within 0.9Mpc is 10^{+3}_{-2}%. The thermal gas pressure contributes to ~60% of the equilibrium pressure, indicating a significant level of non-thermal pressure support. When compared to Planck's hydrostatic mass estimate, our lensing measurements yield a spherical mass ratio of $M_{Planck}/M_{GL}=0.70\pm 0.15$ and $0.58\pm 0.10$ with and without corrections for lensing projection effects, respectively.Comment: Accepted by ApJ. Minor textual changes to improve clarity (e.g., 5. HST STRONG-LENSING ANALYSIS). 26 pages, 17 figures. A version with high-resolution figures is available at http://www.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/~keiichi/upfiles/Umetsu15/umetsu15.pd