151 research outputs found
Constraining from X-ray properties of Clusters of Galaxies at high redshift
Properties of high redshift clusters are a fundamental source of information
for cosmology. It has been shown by Oukbir and Blanchard (1997) that the
combined knowledge of the redshift distribution of X-ray clusters of galaxies
and the luminosity-temperature correlation, , provides a powerful test
of the mean density of the Universe. In this paper, we address the question of
the possible evolution of this relation from an observational point of view and
its cosmological significance. We introduce a new indicator in order to measure
the evolution of the X-ray luminosity-temperature relation with redshift and
take advantage of the recent availability of temperature information for a
significant number of high and intermediate redshift X-ray clusters of
galaxies. From our analysis, we find a slightly positive evolution in the
relation. This implies a high value of the density parameter of
. However, because the selection of clusters included inour sample
is unknown, this can be considered only as a tentative result. A
well-controlled X-ray selected survey would provide a more robust answer. XMM
will be ideal for such a program.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures,5 tables, accepted by A&
Constraining Primordial Non-Gaussianity With the Abundance of High Redshift Clusters
We show how observations of the evolution of the galaxy cluster number
abundance can be used to constrain primordial non-Gaussianity in the universe.
We carry out a maximum likelihood analysis incorporating a number of current
datasets and accounting for a wide range of sources of systematic error. Under
the assumption of Gaussianity, the current data prefer a universe with matter
density and are inconsistent with at the
level. If we assume , the predicted degree of cluster
evolution is consistent with the data for non-Gaussian models where the
primordial fluctuations have at least two times as many peaks of height
or more as a Gaussian distribution does. These results are robust to
almost all sources of systematic error considered: in particular, the
Gaussian case can only be reconciled with the data if a number of
systematic effects conspire to modify the analysis in the right direction.
Given an independent measurement of , the techniques described here
represent a powerful tool with which to constrain non-Gaussianity in the
primordial universe, independent of specific details of the non-Gaussian
physics. We discuss the prospects and strategies for improving the constraints
with future observations.Comment: Minor revisions to match published ApJ version, 14 pages emulateap
Testing Cosmological Models With A \lya Forest Statistic: The High End Of The Optical Depth Distribution
We pay particular attention to the high end of the \lya optical depth
distribution of a quasar spectrum. Based on the flux distribution
(Miralda-Escud\'e et al 1996), a simple yet seemingly cosmological model
-differentiating statistic, -- the cumulative probability of
a quasar spectrum with \lya optical depth greater than a high value
-- is emphasized. It is shown that two different models -- the cold dark matter
model with a cosmological constant and the mixed hot and cold dark matter
model, both normalized to COBE and local galaxy cluster abundance -- yield
quite different values of : 0.13 of the former versus 0.058 of
the latter for at . Moreover, it is argued that
may be fairly robust to compute theoretically because it does
not seem to depend sensitively on small variations of simulations parameters
such as radiation field, cooling, feedback process, radiative transfer,
resolution and simulation volume within the plausible ranges of the concerned
quantities. Furthermore, it is illustrated that can be
obtained sufficiently accurately from currently available observed quasar
spectra for , when observational noise is properly taken
into account. We anticipate that analyses of observations of quasar \lya
absorption spectra over a range of redshift may be able to constrain the
redshift evolution of the amplitude of the density fluctuations on
small-to-intermediate scales, therefore providing an independent constraint on
, and .Comment: ApJ Letters, in press, substantial changes have been made from the
last versio
A New Robust Low-Scatter X-ray Mass Indicator for Clusters of Galaxies
We present comparison of X-ray proxies for the total cluster mass, including
the spectral temperature (Tx), gas mass measured within r500 (Mg), and the new
proxy, Yx, which is a simple product of Tx and Mg and is related to the total
thermal energy of the ICM. We use mock Chandra images constructed for a sample
of clusters simulated with the eulerian N-body+gasdynamics adaptive mesh
refinement ART code in the concordance LCDM cosmology. The simulations achieve
high spatial and mass resolution and include radiative cooling, star formation,
and other processes accompanying galaxy formation. Our analysis shows that
simulated clusters exhibit a high degree of regularity and tight correlations
between the considered observables and total mass. The normalizations of the
M-Tx, Mg-Tx, and M-Yx relations agree to better than 10-15% with the current
observational measurements of these relations. Our results show that Yx is the
best mass proxy with a remarkably low scatter of only ~5-7% in M500 for a fixed
Yx, at both low and high redshifts and regardless of whether clusters are
relaxed or not. In addition, we show that redshift evolution of the Yx-M500
relation is close to the self-similar prediction, which makes Yx a very
attractive mass indicator for measurements of the cluster mass function from
X-ray selected samples.Comment: submitted to ApJ; 9 pages, 6 figures, uses emulateap
Mass-Temperature Relation of Galaxy Clusters: A Theoretical Study
Combining conservation of energy throughout nearly-spherical collapse of
galaxy clusters with the virial theorem, we derive the mass-temperature
relation for X-ray clusters of galaxies . The normalization factor
and the scatter of the relation are determined from first principles with
the additional assumption of initial Gaussian random field. We are also able to
reproduce the recently observed break in the M-T relation at T \sim 3 \keV,
based on the scatter in the underlying density field for a low density
CDM cosmology. Finally, by combining observational data of high
redshift clusters with our theoretical formalism, we find a semi-empirical
temperature-mass relation which is expected to hold at redshifts up to unity
with less than 20% error.Comment: 43 pages, 13 figures, One figure is added and minor changes are made.
Accepted for Publication in Ap
The WARPS survey: III. The discovery of an X-ray luminous galaxy cluster at z=0.833 and the impact of X-ray substructure on cluster abundance measurements
The WARPS team reviews the properties and history of discovery of
ClJ0152.7-1357, an X-ray luminous, rich cluster of galaxies at z=0.833. At L_X
= 8 x 10^44 h^(-2) erg/s (0.5-2.0 keV) ClJ0152.7-1357 is the most X-ray
luminous cluster known at redshifts z>0.55. The high X-ray luminosity of the
system suggests that massive clusters may begin to form at redshifts
considerably greater than unity. This scenario is supported by the high degree
of optical and X-ray substructure in ClJ0152.7-1357, which is similarly complex
as that of other X-ray selected distant clusters and consistent with the
picture of cluster formation by mass infall along large-scale filaments. X-ray
emission from ClJ0152.7-1357 was detected already in 1980 with the EINSTEIN
IPC. However, because the complex morphology of the emission caused its
significance to be underestimated, the corresponding source was not included in
the EMSS cluster sample and hence not previously identified. Simulations of the
EMSS source detection and selection procedure suggest a general bias of the
EMSS against X-ray luminous clusters with pronounced substructure. If highly
unrelaxed, merging clusters are common at high redshift, they could create a
bias in some samples as the morphological complexity of mergers may cause them
to fall below the flux limit of surveys that assume a unimodal spatial source
geometry. Conversely, the enhanced X-ray luminosity of mergers might cause them
to, temporarily, rise above the flux limit. Either effect could lead to
erroneous conclusions about the evolution of the comoving cluster space
density. A high fraction of morphologically complex clusters at high redshift
would also call into question the validity of cosmological studies that assume
that the systems under investigation are virialized.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures; revised to focus on possible detection biases
caused by substructure in clusters; accepted for publication in ApJ; uses
emulateapj.sty; eps files of figures 1 and 2 can be obtained from
ftp://hubble.ifa.hawaii.edu/pub/ebeling/warp
Weak Lensing as a Calibrator of the Cluster Mass-Temperature Relation
The abundance of clusters at the present epoch and weak gravitational lensing
shear both constrain roughly the same combination of the power spectrum
normalization sigma_8 and matter energy density Omega_M. The cluster constraint
further depends on the normalization of the mass-temperature relation.
Therefore, combining the weak lensing and cluster abundance data can be used to
accurately calibrate the mass-temperature relation. We discuss this approach
and illustrate it using data from recent surveys.Comment: Matches the version in ApJL. Equation 4 corrected. Improvements in
the analysis move the cluster contours in Fig1 slightly upwards. No changes
in the conclusion
The mean density of the Universe from cluster evolution
The determination of the mean density of the Universe is a long standing
problem of modern cosmology. The number density evolution of x-ray clusters at
a fixed temperature is a powerful cosmological test, new in nature (Oukbir and
Blanchard, 1992), somewhat different from standard analyses based on the
dynamical measurement of individual objects. However, the absence of any
available sample of x-ray selected clusters with measured temperatures at high
redshift has prevented this test from being applied earlier. Recently,
temperature measurements of ten EMSS clusters at have
allowed the application of this test (Henry, 1997). In this work, we present
the first results of a new analysis we have performed of this data set as well
as a new estimation of the local temperature distribution function of clusters:
a likelihood analysis of the temperature distribution functions gives a
preferred value for the mean density of the universe which corresponds to 75%
of the critical density. An open model with a density smaller than 30% of the
critical density is rejected with a level of significance of 95%.Comment: 4 pages, shortened. To be published in Les Comptes Rendus de
l'Academie des Science
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