77 research outputs found
SMAUG: a new technique for the deprojection of galaxy clusters
This paper presents a new technique for reconstructing the spatial
distributions of hydrogen, temperature and metal abundance of a galaxy cluster.
These quantities are worked out from the X-ray spectrum, modeled starting from
few analytical functions describing their spatial distributions. These
functions depend upon some parameters, determined by fitting the model to the
observed spectrum. We have implemented this technique as a new model in the
XSPEC software analysis package. We describe the details of the method, and
apply it to work out the structure of the cluster A1795. We combine the
observation of three satellites, exploiting the high spatial resolution of
Chandra for the cluster core, the wide collecting area of XMM-Newton for the
intermediate regions and the large field of view of Beppo-SAX for the outer
regions. We also test the validity and precision of our method by i) comparing
its results with those from a geometrical deprojection, ii) examining the
spectral residuals at different radii of the cluster and iii) reprojecting the
unfolded profiles and comparing them directly to the measured quantities. Our
analytical method yields the parameters defining the spatial functions directly
from the spectra. Their explicit knowledge allows a straightforward derivation
of other indirect physical quantities like the gravitating mass, as well as a
fast and easy estimate of the profiles uncertainties.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables; emulateapj; accepted for publication
in the Astrophysical Journa
Where does the gas fueling star formation in BCGs originate?
We investigate the relationship between X-ray cooling and star formation in
brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). We present an X-ray spectral analysis of the
inner regions, 10-40 kpc, of six nearby cool core clusters (z<0.35) observed
with Chandra ACIS. This sample is selected on the basis of the high star
formation rate (SFR) observed in the BCGs. We restrict our search for cooling
gas to regions that are roughly cospatial with the starburst. We fit single-
and multi-temperature mkcflow models to constrain the amount of isobarically
cooling intracluster medium (ICM). We find that in all clusters, below a
threshold temperature ranging between 0.9 and 3 keV, only upper limits can be
obtained. In four out of six objects, the upper limits are significantly below
the SFR and in two, namely A1835 and A1068, they are less than a tenth of the
SFR. Our results suggests that a number of mechanisms conspire to hide the
cooling signature in our spectra. In a few systems the lack of a cooling
signature may be attributed to a relatively long delay time between the X-ray
cooling and the star burst. However, for A1835 and A1068, where the X-ray
cooling time is shorter than the timescale of the starburst, a possible
explanation is that the region where gas cools out of the X-ray phase extends
to very large radii, likely beyond the core of these systems.Comment: to appear in A&
Apparent high metallicity in 3-4 keV galaxy clusters: the inverse iron-bias in action in the case of the merging cluster Abell 2028
Recent work based on a global measurement of the ICM properties find evidence
for an increase of the iron abundance in galaxy clusters with temperature
around 2-4 keV up to a value about 3 times larger than that typical of very hot
clusters. We have started a study of the metal distribution in these objects
from the sample of Baumgartner et al. (2005), aiming at resolving spatially the
metal content of the ICM. We report here on a 42ks XMM observation of the first
object of the sample, the cluster Abell 2028. The XMM observation reveals a
complex structure of the cluster over scale of 300 kpc, showing an interaction
between two sub-clusters in cometary-like configurations. At the leading edges
of the two substructures cold fronts have been detected. The core of the main
subcluster is likely hosting a cool corona. We show that a one-component fit
for this region returns a biased high metallicity. This inverse iron bias is
due to the behavior of the fitting code in shaping the Fe-L complex. In
presence of a multi-temperature structure of the ICM, the best-fit metallicity
is artificially higher when the projected spectrum is modeled with a single
temperature component and it is not related to the presence of both Fe-L and
Fe-K emission lines in the spectrum. After accounting for the bias, the overall
abundance of the cluster is consistent with the one typical of hotter, more
massive clusters. We caution the interpretation of high abundances inferred
when fitting a single thermal component to spectra derived from relatively
large apertures in 3-4 keV clusters, because the inverse iron bias can be
present. Most of the inferences trying to relate high abundances in 3-4 keV
clusters to fundamental physical processes will likely have to be revised.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures.Accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysycs. Minor changes to match published versio
Radiative cooling, heating and thermal conduction in M87
The crisis of the standard cooling flow model brought about by Chandra and
XMM-Newton observations of galaxy clusters, has led to the development of
several models which explore different heating processes in order to assess if
they can quench the cooling flow. Among the most appealing mechanisms are
thermal conduction and heating through buoyant gas deposited in the ICM by
AGNs. We combine Virgo/M87 observations of three satellites (Chandra,
XMM-Newton and Beppo-SAX) to inspect the dynamics of the ICM in the center of
the cluster. Using the spectral deprojection technique, we derive the physical
quantities describing the ICM and determine the extra-heating needed to balance
the cooling flow assuming that thermal conduction operates at a fixed fraction
of the Spitzer value. We assume that the extra-heating is due to buoyant gas
and we fit the data using the model developed by Ruszkowski and Begelman
(2002). We derive a scale radius for the model of kpc, which is
comparable with the M87 AGN jet extension, and a required luminosity of the AGN
of a erg s, which is comparable to the observed AGN
luminosity. We discuss a scenario where the buoyant bubbles are filled of
relativistic particles and magnetic field responsible for the radio emission in
M87. The AGN is supposed to be intermittent and to inject populations of
buoyant bubbles through a succession of outbursts. We also study the X-ray cool
component detected in the radio lobes and suggest that it is structured in
blobs which are tied to the radio buoyant bubbles.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Ap
Dark matter-baryons separation at the lowest mass scale: the Bullet Group
We report on the X-ray observation of a strong lensing selected group, SL2S
J08544-0121, with a total mass of
which revealed a separation of kpc between the X-ray emitting
collisional gas and the collisionless galaxies and dark matter (DM), traced by
strong lensing. This source allows to put an order of magnitude estimate to the
upper limit to the interaction cross section of DM of 10 cm g. It is
the lowest mass object found to date showing a DM-baryons separation and it
reveals that the detection of bullet-like objects is not rare and confined to
mergers of massive objects opening the possibility of a statistical detection
of DM-baryons separation with future surveys.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. Typos
correcte
XMM- Newton Observation of the Coma Galaxy Cluster: The temperature structure in the central region
We present a temperature map and a temperature profile of the central part (r < 20' or 1/4 virial radius) of the Coma cluster. We combined 5 overlapping pointings made with XMM/EPIC/MOS and extracted spectra in boxes of 3.5' X 3.5'. The temperature distribution around the two central galaxies is remarkably homogeneous (r<10'), contrary to previous ASCA results, suggesting that the core is actually in a relaxed state. At larger distance from the cluster center we do see evidence for recent matter accretion. We confirm the cool area in the direction of NGC 4921, probably due to gas stripped from an infalling group. We find indications of a hot front in the South West, in the direction of NGC4839, probably due to an adiabatic compression
Sloshing cold fronts in galaxy groups and their perturbing disk galaxies: an X-ray, Optical and Radio Case Study
We present a combined X-ray, optical, and radio analysis of the galaxy group
IC 1860 using the currently available Chandra and XMM data, literature
multi-object spectroscopy data and GMRT data. The Chandra and XMM imaging and
spectroscopy reveal two surface brightness discontinuities at 45 and 76 kpc
shown to be consistent with a pair of cold fronts. These features are
interpreted as due to sloshing of the central gas induced by an off-axis minor
merger with a perturber. This scenario is further supported by the presence of
a peculiar velocity of the central galaxy IC 1860 and the identification of a
possible perturber in the optically disturbed spiral galaxy IC 1859. The
identification of the perturber is consistent with the comparison with
numerical simulations of sloshing. The GMRT observation at 325 MHz shows faint,
extended radio emission contained within the inner cold front, as seen in some
galaxy clusters hosting diffuse radio mini-halos. However, unlike mini-halos,
no particle reacceleration is needed to explain the extended radio emission,
which is consistent with aged radio plasma redistributed by the sloshing. There
is strong analogy of the X-ray and optical phenomenology of the IC 1860 group
with two other groups, NGC 5044 and NGC 5846, showing cold fronts. The evidence
presented in this paper is among the strongest supporting the currently favored
model of cold-front formation in relaxed objects and establishes the group
scale as a chief environment to study this phenomenon.Comment: 22 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
Gas sloshing, cold fronts, Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and the merger history of the cluster of galaxies Abell 496
We investigate the origin and nature of the multiple sloshing cold fronts in
the core of Abell 496 by direct comparison between observations and dedicated
hydrodynamical simulations. Our simulations model a minor merger with a
4{\times}10^13M{\circ} subcluster crossing A496 from the south-west to the
north-north-east, passing the cluster core in the south-east at a pericentre
distance 100 to a few 100 kpc about 0.6 to 0.8 Gyr ago. The gas sloshing
triggered by the merger can reproduce almost all observed features, e.g. the
characteristic spiral-like brightness residual distribution in the cluster
centre and its asymmetry out to 500 kpc, also the positions of and contrasts
across the cold fronts. If the subcluster passes close (100 kpc) to the cluster
core, the resulting shear flows are strong enough to trigger Kelvin-Helmholtz
instabilities that in projection resemble the peculiar kinks in the cold fronts
of Abell 496. Finally, we show that sloshing does not lead to a significant
modification of the global ICM profiles but a mild oscillation around the
initial profiles.Comment: MNRAS, accepted, 19 page
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