676 research outputs found
Cross-calibration of Suzaku XIS and XMM-Newton EPIC using clusters of galaxies
We extend a previous cross-calibration study by the International
Astronomical Consortium for High Energy Calibration (IACHEC) on
XMM-Newton/EPIC, Chandra/ACIS and BeppoSAX/MECS X-ray instruments with clusters
of galaxies to Suzaku/XIS instruments. Our aim is to study the accuracy of the
energy-dependent effective area calibration of the XIS instruments by
comparison of spectroscopic temperatures, fluxes and fit residuals obtained
with Suzaku/XIS and XMM-Newton/EPIC-pn for the same cluster. The temperatures
measured in the hard 2.0-7.0 keV energy band with all instruments are
consistent within 5 %. However, temperatures obtained with the XIS instruments
in the soft 0.5-2.0 keV band disagree by 9-29 %. We investigated residuals in
the XIS soft band, which showed that if XIS0 effective area shape is accurately
calibrated, the effective areas of XIS1 and XIS3 are overestimated below 1.0
keV (or vice versa). Adjustments to the modelling of the column density of the
XIS contaminant in the 3-6 arcmin extraction region while forcing consistent
emission models in each instrument for a given cluster significantly improved
the fits. The oxygen column density in XIS1 and XIS3 contaminant must be
increased by 1-2E17 cm^-2 in comparison to the values implemented in the
current calibration, while the column density of the XIS0 contaminant given by
the analysis is consistent with the public calibration. XIS soft band
temperatures obtained with the modification to the column density of the
contaminant agree better with temperatures obtained with the EPIC-pn instrument
of XMM-Newton, than with those derived using the Chandra-ACIS instrument.
However, comparison of hard band fluxes obtained using Suzaku-XIS to fluxes
obtained using the Chandra-ACIS and EPIC-pn instruments proved inconclusive.Comment: 24 pages, 27 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
The Baryonic and Dark Matter Distributions in Abell 401
We combine spatially resolved ASCA temperature data with ROSAT imaging data
to constrain the total mass distribution in the cluster A401, assuming that the
cluster is in hydrostatic equilibrium. We obtain a total mass within the X-ray
core (290/h_50 kpc) of 1.2[+0.1,-0.5] 10^14 /h_50 Msun at the 90% confidence
level, 1.3 times larger than the isothermal estimate. The total mass within
r_500 (1.7/h_50 Mpc) is M_500 = 0.9[+0.3,-0.2] 10^15/ h_50 Msun at 90%
confidence, in agreement with the optical virial mass estimate, and 1.2 times
smaller than the isothermal estimate. Our M_500 value is 1.7 times smaller than
that estimated using the mass-temperature scaling law predicted by simulations.
The best fit dark matter density profile scales as r^{-3.1} at large radii,
which is consistent with the Navarro, Frenk & White (NFW) ``universal profile''
as well as the King profile of the galaxy density in A401. From the imaging
data, the gas density profile is shallower than the dark matter profile,
scaling as r^{-2.1} at large radii, leading to a monotonically increasing gas
mass fraction with radius. Within r_500 the gas mass fraction reaches a value
of f_gas = 0.21[+0.06,-0.05] h_50^{-3/2} (90% confidence errors). Assuming that
f_gas (plus an estimate of the stellar mass) is the universal value of the
baryon fraction, we estimate the 90% confidence upper limit of the cosmological
matter density to be Omega_m < 0.31.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Ap
X-ray total mass estimate for the nearby relaxed cluster A3571
We constrain the total mass distribution in the cluster A3571, combining
spatially resolved ASCA temperature data with ROSAT imaging data with the
assumption that the cluster is in hydrostatic equilibrium. The total mass
within r_500 (1.7/h_50 Mpc) is M_500 = 7.8[+1.4,-2.2] 10^14/ h_50 Msun at 90%
confidence, 1.1 times smaller than the isothermal estimate. The Navarro, Frenk
& White ``universal profile'' is a good description of the dark matter density
distribution in A3571. The gas density profile is shallower than the dark
matter profile, scaling as r^{-2.1} at large radii, leading to a monotonically
increasing gas mass fraction with radius. Within r_500 the gas mass fraction
reaches a value of f_gas = 0.19[+0.06,-0.03] h_50^{-3/2} (90% confidence
errors). Assuming that this value of f_gas is a lower limit for the the
universal value of the baryon fraction, we estimate the 90% confidence upper
limit of the cosmological matter density to be Omega_m < 0.4.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Ap
GMRT observations of the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster
VLA observations at 1477 MHz revealed the presence of a radio mini-halo
surrounding the faint central point-like radio source in the Ophiuchus cluster
of galaxies. In this work we present a study of the radio emission from this
cluster of galaxies at lower radio frequencies. We observed the Ophiuchus
cluster at 153, 240, and 614 MHz with the GMRT. The mini-halo is clearly
detected at 153 and 240 MHz while it is not detected at 610 MHz. The most
prominent feature at low frequencies is a patch of diffuse steep spectrum
emission located at about 5' south-east from the cluster center. By combining
these images with that at 1477 MHz, we derived the spectral index of the
mini-halo. Globally, the mini-halo has a low-frequency spectral index of
alpha_240^153 ~1.4 +/- 0.3 and an high-frequency spectral index of
alpha_1477^240 ~ 1.60 +/- 0.05. Moreover, we measure a systematic increase of
the high-frequency spectral index with radius: the azimuthal radial average of
alpha_1477^240 increases from about 1.3, at the cluster center, up to about 2.0
in the mini-halo outskirts. The observed radio spectral index is in agreement
with that obtained by modeling the non-thermal hard X-ray emission in this
cluster of galaxies. We assume that the X-ray component arises from inverse
Compton scattering between the photons of the cosmic microwave background and a
population of non-thermal electrons which are isotropically distributed and
whose energy spectrum is a power law with index p. We derive that the electrons
energy spectrum should extend from a minimum Lorentz factor of gamma_min < 700
up to a maximum Lorentz factor of gamma_max =3.8 x 10^4 with an index p=3.8 +/-
0.4. The volume-averaged strength for a completely disordered intra-cluster
magnetic field is B_V ~0.3 +/- 0.1 micro-G.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysics. For a version with high-quality figures see
http://erg.ca.astro.it/preprints/ophi_2010
XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL analysis of the Ophiuchus cluster of galaxies
We investigated the non-thermal hard X-ray emission in the Ophiuchus cluster
of galaxies. Our aim was to characterise the physical properties of the
non-thermal component and its interaction with the cosmic microwave background.
We performed spatially resolved spectroscopy and imaging using XMM-Newton data
to model the thermal emission. Combining this with INTEGRAL ISGRI data, we
modeled the 0.6-140 keV band total emission in the central 7 arcmin region. The
models that best describe both PN and ISGRI data contain a power-law component
with a photon index in a range 2.2-2.5. This component produces ~10% of the
total flux in the 1-10 keV band. The pressure of the non-thermal electrons is
~1% of that of the thermal electrons. Our results support the scenario whereby
a relativistic electron population, which produces the recently detected radio
mini-halo in Ophiuchus, also produces the hard X-rays via inverse compton
scattering of the CMB photons. The best-fit models imply a differential
momentum spectrum of the relativistic electrons with a slope of 3.4-4.0 and a
magnetic field strength B=0.05-0.15 microG. The lack of evidence for a recent
major merger in the Ophiuchus center allows the possibility that the
relativistic electrons are produced by turbulence or hadronic collisions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics, v2 includes
some text improvement
The cluster M-T relation from temperature profiles observed with ASCA and ROSAT
We calibrate the galaxy cluster mass - temperature relation using the
temperature profiles of intracluster gas observed with ASCA (for hot clusters)
and ROSAT (for cool groups). Our sample consists of apparently relaxed clusters
for which the total masses are derived assuming hydrostatic equilibrium. The
sample provides data on cluster X-ray emission-weighted cooling flow-corrected
temperatures and total masses up to r_1000. The resulting M-T scaling in the
1-10 keV temperature range is M_1000 = (1.23 +- 0.20)/h_50 10^15 Msun (T/10
keV)^{1.79 +- 0.14} with 90% confidence errors, or significantly (99.99%
confidence) steeper than the self-similar relation M propto T^{3/2}. For any
given temperature, our measured mass values are significantly smaller compared
to the simulation results of Evrard et al. (1996) that are frequently used for
mass-temperature scaling. The higher-temperature subsample (kT > 4 keV) is
consistent with M propto T^{3/2}, allowing the possibility that the
self-similar scaling breaks down at low temperatures, perhaps due to heating by
supernovae that is more important for low-temperature groups and galaxies as
suggested by earlier works.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted by Ap
XMM-Newton observations of the Coma cluster relic 1253+275
Using XMM Newton data, we investigate the nature of the X-ray emission in the
radio relic 1253+275 in the Coma cluster. We determine the conditions of the
cluster gas to check current models of relic formation, and we set constraints
on the intracluster magnetic field. Both imaging and spectral analysis are
performed, and the X-ray emission is compared with the radio emission. We found
that the emission is of thermal origin and is connected to the sub-group around
NGC 4839. The best-fit gas temperature in the region of the relic and in its
vicinity is in the range 2.8 - 4.0 keV, comparable to the temperature of the
NGC 4839 sub-group. We do not detect any high temperature gas, resulting from a
possible shock in the region of the Coma relic. We therefore suggest that the
main source of energy for particles radiating in the radio relic is likely to
be turbulence. From the X-ray data, we can also set a flux upper limit of 3.2 x
10e-13 erg/cm^2 s, in the 0.3 - 10 keV energy range, to the non-thermal
emission in the relic region. This leads to a magnetic field B > 1.05 microG.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
Summary of the 13th IACHEC Meeting
We summarize the outcome of the 13th meeting of the International
Astronomical Consortium for High Energy Calibration (IACHEC), held at Tenuta
dei Ciclamini (Avigliano Umbro, Italy) in April 2018. Fifty-one scientists
directly involved in the calibration of operational and future high-energy
missions gathered during 3.5 days to discuss the current status of the X-ray
payload inter-calibration and possible approaches to improve it. This summary
consists of reports from the various working groups with topics ranging from
the identification and characterization of standard calibration sources,
multi-observatory cross-calibration campaigns, appropriate and new statistical
techniques, calibration of instruments and characterization of background, and
communication and preservation of knowledge and results for the benefit of the
astronomical community.Comment: 12 page
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