220 research outputs found
Chandra Observation of the Cluster Environment of a WAT Radio Source in Abell 1446
Wide-angle tail (WAT) radio sources are often found in the centers of galaxy
clusters where intracluster medium (ICM) ram pressure may bend the lobes into
their characteristic C-shape. We examine the low redshift (z=0.1035) cluster
Abell 1446, host to the WAT radio source 1159+583. The cluster exhibits
possible evidence for a small-scale cluster-subcluster merger as a cause of the
WAT radio source morphology. This evidence includes the presence of temperature
and pressure substructure along the line that bisects the WAT as well as a
possible wake of stripped interstellar material or a disrupted cool core to the
southeast of the host galaxy. A filament to the north may represent cool,
infalling gas that's contributing to the WAT bending while spectroscopically
determined redshifts of member galaxies may indicate some component of a merger
occurring along the line-of-sight. The WAT model of high flow velocity and low
lobe density is examined as another scenario for the bending of 1159+583. It
has been argued that such a model would allow the ram pressure due to the
galaxy's slow motion through the ICM to shape the WAT source. A temperature
profile shows that the cluster is isothermal (kT= 4.0 keV) in a series of
annuli reaching a radius of 400 kpc. There is no evidence of an ongoing cooling
flow. Temperature, abundance, pressure, density, and mass profiles, as well as
two-dimensional maps of temperature and pressure are presented.Comment: 40 AASTeX pages including 15 postscript figures; accepted for
publication in Ap
On the use of polymer gels for assessing the total geometrical accuracy in clinical Gamma Knife radiosurgery applications
The nearly tissue equivalent MRI properties and the unique ability of registering 3D dose distributions of polymer gels were exploited to assess the total geometrical accuracy in clinical Gamma Knife applications, taking into account the combined effect of the unitâs mechanical accuracy, dose delivery precision and the geometrical distortions inherent in MR images used for irradiation planning. Comparison between planned and experimental data suggests that the MR-related distortions due to susceptibility effects dominate the total clinical geometrical accuracy which was found within 1 mm. The dosimetric effect of the observed sub-millimetre uncertainties on single shot GK irradiation plans was assessed using the target percentage coverage criterion, and a considerable target dose underestimation was found
A wide angle tail radio galaxy in the COSMOS field: evidence for cluster formation
We have identified a complex galaxy cluster system in the COSMOS field via a
wide angle tail (WAT) radio galaxy consistent with the idea that WAT galaxies
can be used as tracers of clusters. The WAT galaxy, CWAT-01, is coincident with
an elliptical galaxy resolved in the HST-ACS image. Using the COSMOS
multiwavelength data set, we derive the radio properties of CWAT-01 and use the
optical and X-ray data to investigate its host environment. The cluster hosting
CWAT-01 is part of a larger assembly consisting of a minimum of four X-ray
luminous clusters within ~2 Mpc distance. We apply hydrodynamical models that
combine ram pressure and buoyancy forces on CWAT-01. These models explain the
shape of the radio jets only if the galaxy's velocity relative to the
intra-cluster medium (ICM) is in the range of about 300-550 km/s which is
higher than expected for brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in relaxed systems.
This indicates that the CWAT-01 host cluster is not relaxed, but is possibly
dynamically young. We argue that such a velocity could have been induced
through subcluster merger within the CWAT-01 parent cluster and/or
cluster-cluster interactions. Our results strongly indicate that we are
witnessing the formation of a large cluster from an assembly of multiple
clusters, consistent with the hierarchical scenario of structure formation. We
estimate the total mass of the final cluster to be approximately 20% of the
mass of the Coma cluster.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures; accepted for publication in ApJS, COSMOS
special issue; added color figure (Fig. 13) which was previously unavailabl
An XMM-Newton study of the sub-structure in M87's halo
The high signal to noise and good point spread function of XMM have allowed
the first detailed study of the interaction between the thermal and radio
emitting plasma in the central regions of M87. We show that the X-ray emitting
structure, previously seen by ROSAT, is thermal in nature and that the east and
southwest extensions in M87's X-ray halo have a significantly lower temperature
(kT= 1.5 keV) than the surrounding ambient medium (kT= 2.3 keV). There is
little or no evidence for non-thermal emission with an upper limit on the
contribution of a power law component of spectral index flatter than 3 being
less than 1% of the flux in the region of the radio lobes.Comment: 6 pages, 8 color figures, to be published in A&A, number 36
Identifying dynamically young galaxy groups via wide-angle tail galaxies: A case study in the COSMOS field at z=0.53
We present an analysis of a wide-angle tail (WAT) radio galaxy located in a
galaxy group in the COSMOS field at a redshift of z=0.53 (hereafter CWAT-02).
We find that the host galaxy of CWAT-02 is the brightest galaxy in the group,
although it does not coincide with the center of mass of the system. Estimating
a) the velocity of CWAT-02, relative to the intra-cluster medium (ICM), and b)
the line-of-sight peculiar velocity of CWAT-02's host galaxy, relative to the
average velocity of the group, we find that both values are higher than those
expected for a dominant galaxy in a relaxed system. This suggests that
CWAT-02's host group is dynamically young and likely in the process of an
ongoing group merger. Our results are consistent with previous findings showing
that the presence of a wide-angle tail galaxy in a galaxy group or cluster can
be used as an indicator of dynamically young non-relaxed systems. Taking the
unrelaxed state of CWAT-02's host group into account, we discuss the impact of
radio-AGN heating from CWAT-02 onto its environment, in the context of the
missing baryon problem in galaxy groups. Our analysis strengthens recent
results suggesting that radio-AGN heating may be powerful enough to expel
baryons from galaxy groups.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Ap
The XMM-Newton Wide-Field Survey in the COSMOS Field: Statistical Properties of Clusters of Galaxies
We present the results of a search for galaxy clusters in the first 36 XMM-Newton pointings on the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) field. We reach a depth for a total cluster flux in the 0.5-2 keV band of 3 à 10^(-15) ergs cm^(-2) s^(-1), having one of the widest XMM-Newton contiguous raster surveys, covering an area of 2.1 deg^2. Cluster candidates are identified through a wavelet detection of extended X-ray emission. Verification of the cluster candidates is done based on a galaxy concentration analysis in redshift slices of thickness 0.1-0.2 in redshift, using the multiband photometric catalog of the COSMOS field and restricting the search to z S)-log S distribution compares well with previous results, although yielding a somewhat higher number of clusters at similar fluxes. The X-ray luminosity function of COSMOS clusters matches well the results of nearby surveys, providing a comparably tight constraint on the faint-end slope of α = 1.93 ± 0.04. For the probed luminosity range of (8 à 10^(42))-(2 à 10^(44)) ergs s^(-1), our survey is in agreement with and adds significantly to the existing data on the cluster luminosity function at high redshifts and implies no substantial evolution at these luminosities to z = 1.3
An XMM-Newton observation of the galaxy group MKW 4
We present an X-ray study of the galaxy group or poor cluster MKW 4. Working
with XMM data we examine the distribution and properties of the hot gas which
makes up the group halo. The inner halo shows some signs of structure, with
circular or elliptical beta models providing a poor fit to the surface
brightness profile. This may be evidence of large scale motion in the inner
halo, but we do not find evidence of sharp fronts or edges in the emission. The
temperature of the halo declines in the core, with deprojected spectral fits
showing a central temperature of ~1.3 keV compared to ~3 keV at 100 kpc. In the
central ~30 kpc of the group multi-temperature spectral models are required to
fit the data, but they indicate a lack of gas at low temperatures. Steady state
cooling flow models provide poor fits to the inner regions of the group and the
estimated cooling time of the gas is long except within the central dominant
galaxy, NGC 4073. Abundance profiles show a sharp increase in the core of the
group, with mean abundance rising by a factor of two in the centre of NGC 4073.
Fitting individual elements shows the same trend, with high values of Fe, Si
and S in the core. We estimate that ~50% of the Fe in the central 40 kpc was
injected by SNIa, in agreement with previous ASCA studies. Using our best
fitting surface brightness and temperature models, we calculate the mass, gas
fraction, entropy and mass-to-light ratio of the group. At 100 kpc (~0.1 virial
radii) the total mass and gas entropy of the system (~2x10^13 Msol and ~300 keV
cm^2) are quite comparable to those of other systems of similar temperature,
but the gas fraction is rather low (~1%). We conclude that MKW 4 is a fairly
relaxed group, which has developed a strong central temperature gradient but
not a large-scale cooling flow.Comment: 17 pages, 9 postscript figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
What is a Cool-Core Cluster? A Detailed Analysis of the Cores of the X-ray Flux-Limited HIFLUGCS Cluster Sample
We use the largest complete sample of 64 galaxy clusters (HIghest X-ray FLUx
Galaxy Cluster Sample) with available high-quality X-ray data from Chandra, and
apply 16 cool-core diagnostics to them, some of them new. We also correlate
optical properties of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) with X-ray properties.
To segregate cool core and non-cool-core clusters, we find that central cooling
time, t_cool, is the best parameter for low redshift clusters with high quality
data, and that cuspiness is the best parameter for high redshift clusters. 72%
of clusters in our sample have a cool core (t_cool < 7.7 h_{71}^{-1/2} Gyr) and
44% have strong cool cores (t_cool <1.0 h_{71}^{-1/2} Gyr). For the first time
we show quantitatively that the discrepancy in classical and spectroscopic mass
deposition rates can not be explained with a recent formation of the cool
cores, demonstrating the need for a heating mechanism to explain the cooling
flow problem. [Abridged]Comment: 45 pages, 19 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A.
Contact Person: Rupal Mittal ([email protected]
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