282 research outputs found
Baryons in the outskirts of the X-ray brightest galaxy cluster
Studies of the diffuse X-ray emitting gas in galaxy clusters have provided
powerful constraints on cosmological parameters and insights into plasma
astrophysics. However, measurements of the faint cluster outskirts have become
possible only over the last few years. Here, we present results from Suzaku
observations of the Perseus Cluster, which provide our best measurements of the
thermodynamic properties of the ICM at large radii to date. In particular, we
focus on the details of the data analysis procedure and discuss the evidence
for a clumpy distribution of the gas in the outskirts, which is important for
understanding the physics of the ongoing growth of clusters from the
surrounding cosmic web.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the conference "Suzaku 2011 Exploring
the X-ray Universe: Suzaku and Beyond" which will be published as e-book by
AI
X-ray bright active galactic nuclei in massive galaxy clusters III: New insights into the triggering mechanisms of cluster AGN
We present the results of a new analysis of the X-ray selected Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN) population in the vicinity of 135 of the most massive
galaxy clusters in the redshift range of 0.2 < z < 0.9 observed with Chandra.
With a sample of more than 11,000 X-ray point sources, we are able to measure,
for the first time, evidence for evolution in the cluster AGN population beyond
the expected evolution of field AGN. Our analysis shows that overall number
density of cluster AGN scales with the cluster mass as .
There is no evidence for the overall number density of cluster member X-ray AGN
depending on the cluster redshift in a manner different than field AGN, nor
there is any evidence that the spatial distribution of cluster AGN (given in
units of the cluster overdensity radius r_500) strongly depends on the cluster
mass or redshift. The scaling relation we measure is
consistent with theoretical predictions of the galaxy merger rate in clusters,
which is expected to scale with the cluster velocity dispersion, , as or . This consistency suggests that AGN in
clusters may be predominantly triggered by galaxy mergers, a result that is
further corroborated by visual inspection of Hubble images for 23
spectroscopically confirmed cluster member AGN in our sample. A merger-driven
scenario for the triggering of X-ray AGN is not strongly favored by studies of
field galaxies, however, suggesting that different mechanisms may be primarily
responsible for the triggering of cluster and field X-ray AGN.Comment: 21 Pages, 8 figures, 5 tables. Submitted to MNRAS. Comments are
welcome, and please request Steven Ehlert for higher resolution figure
X-ray Bright Active Galactic Nuclei in Massive Galaxy Clusters II: The Fraction of Galaxies Hosting Active Nuclei
We present a measurement of the fraction of cluster galaxies hosting X-ray
bright Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) as a function of clustercentric distance
scaled in units of . Our analysis employs high quality Chandra X-ray
and Subaru optical imaging for 42 massive X-ray selected galaxy cluster fields
spanning the redshift range of . In total, our study involves
176 AGN with bright () optical counterparts above a keV flux
limit of . When excluding
central dominant galaxies from the calculation, we measure a cluster-galaxy AGN
fraction in the central regions of the clusters that is times lower
that the field value. This fraction increases with clustercentric distance
before becoming consistent with the field at . Our data
exhibit similar radial trends to those observed for star formation and
optically selected AGN in cluster member galaxies, both of which are also
suppressed near cluster centers to a comparable extent. These results strongly
support the idea that X-ray AGN activity and strong star formation are linked
through their common dependence on available reservoirs of cold gas.Comment: 9 Pages, 4 Figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, please contact
Steven Ehlert ([email protected]) with any querie
Thermodynamics of the Coma Cluster Outskirts
We present results from a large mosaic of Suzaku observations of the Coma
Cluster, the nearest and X-ray brightest hot, dynamically active, non-cool core
system, focusing on the thermodynamic properties of the ICM on large scales.
For azimuths not aligned with an infalling subcluster towards the southwest,
our measured temperature and X-ray brightness profiles exhibit broadly
consistent radial trends, with the temperature decreasing from about 8.5 keV at
the cluster center to about 2 keV at a radius of 2 Mpc, which is the edge of
our detection limit. The SW merger significantly boosts the surface brightness,
allowing us to detect X-ray emission out to ~2.2 Mpc along this direction.
Apart from the southwestern infalling subcluster, the surface brightness
profiles show multiple edges around radii of 30-40 arcmin. The azimuthally
averaged temperature profile, as well as the deprojected density and pressure
profiles, all show a sharp drop consistent with an outward propagating shock
front located at 40 arcmin, corresponding to the outermost edge of the giant
radio halo observed at 352 MHz with the WSRT. The shock front may be powering
this radio emission. A clear entropy excess inside of r_500 reflects the
violent merging events linked with these morphological features. Beyond r_500,
the entropy profiles of the Coma Cluster along the relatively relaxed
directions are consistent with the power-law behavior expected from simple
models of gravitational large-scale structure formation. The pressure is also
in agreement at these radii with the expected values measured from SZ data from
the Planck satellite. However, due to the large uncertainties associated with
the Coma Cluster measurements, we cannot yet exclude an entropy flattening in
this system consistent with that seen in more relaxed cool core clusters.Comment: submitted to ApJ; revised after first referee repor
Galaxy Cluster Scaling Relations between Bolocam Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect and Chandra X-ray Measurements
We present scaling relations between the integrated Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect
(SZE) signal, , its X-ray analogue, , and total mass, , for the 45 galaxy clusters in
the Bolocam X-ray-SZ (BOXSZ) sample. All parameters are integrated within
. values are measured using SZE data collected with
Bolocam, operating at 140 GHz at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory (CSO).
The temperature, , and mass, , of the intracluster
medium are determined using X-ray data collected with Chandra, and is derived from assuming a constant gas mass fraction. Our
analysis accounts for several potential sources of bias, including: selection
effects, contamination from radio point sources, and the loss of SZE signal due
to noise filtering and beam-smoothing effects. We measure the
-- scaling to have a power-law index of , and
a fractional intrinsic scatter in of at fixed , both of which are consistent with previous analyses. We also measure the
scaling between and , finding a power-law index of
and a fractional intrinsic scatter in at fixed mass of
. While recent SZE scaling relations using X-ray mass proxies have
found power-law indices consistent with the self-similar prediction of 5/3, our
measurement stands apart by differing from the self-similar prediction by
approximately 5. Given the good agreement between the measured
-- scalings, much of this discrepancy appears to be caused
by differences in the calibration of the X-ray mass proxies adopted for each
particular analysis.Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures, accepted by ApJ 04/11/2015. This version is
appreciably different from the original submission: it includes an entirely
new appendix, extended discussion, and much of the material has been
reorganize
Large-scale Motions in the Perseus Galaxy Cluster
By combining large-scale mosaics of ROSAT PSPC, XMM-Newton, and Suzaku X-ray
observations, we present evidence for large-scale motions in the intracluster
medium of the nearby, X-ray bright Perseus Cluster. These motions are suggested
by several alternating and interleaved X-ray bright, low-temperature,
low-entropy arcs located along the east-west axis, at radii ranging from ~10
kpc to over a Mpc. Thermodynamic features qualitatively similar to these have
previously been observed in the centers of cool core clusters, and were
successfully modeled as a consequence of the gas sloshing/swirling motions
induced by minor mergers. Our observations indicate that such sloshing/swirling
can extend out to larger radii than previously thought, on scales approaching
the virial radius.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Third quantization of -type gravity
We examine the third quantization of -type gravity, based on its
effective Lagrangian in the case of a flat Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker
metric. Starting from the effective Lagrangian, we execute a suitable change of
variable and the second quantization, and we obtain the Wheeler-DeWitt
equation. The third quantization of this theory is considered. And the
uncertainty relation of the universe is investigated in the example of
-type gravity, where . It is shown, when the time is late
namely the scale factor of the universe is large, the spacetime does not
contradict to become classical, and, when the time is early namely the scale
factor of the universe is small, the quantum effects are dominating.Comment: 9 pages, Arbitrary constants in (4.19) are changed to arbitrary
functions of . Conclusions are not changed. References are added.
Typos are correcte
The 400d Galaxy Cluster Survey Weak Lensing Programme: I: MMT/Megacam Analysis of CL0030+2618 at z=0.50
The mass function of galaxy clusters at high redshifts is a particularly
useful probe to learn about the history of structure formation and constrain
cosmological parameters. We aim at deriving reliable masses for a
high-redshift, high-luminosity sample of clusters of galaxies selected from the
400d survey of X-ray selected clusters. Here, we will focus on a particular
object, CL0030+2618 at z=0.50 Using deep imaging in three passbands with the
MEGACAM instrument at MMT, we show that MEGACAM is well-suited for measuring
gravitational shear. We detect the weak lensing signal of CL0030+2618 at 5.8
sigma significance, using the aperture mass technique. Furthermore, we find
significant tangential alignment of galaxies out to ~10 arcmin or >2r_200
distance from the cluster centre. The weak lensing centre of CL0030+2618 agrees
with several X-ray measurements and the position of the brightest cluster
galaxy. Finally, we infer a weak lensing virial mass of M_200=7.5 10^{14} M_sun
for CL0030+2618. Despite complications by a tentative foreground galaxy group
in the line of sight, the X-ray and weak lensing estimates for CL0030+2618 are
in remarkable agreement. This study paves the way for the largest weak lensing
survey of high-redshift galaxy clusters to date.Comment: 32 pages, 24 figures, submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics; fixed
some LaTeX issues, now 30 pages v3: Improved version accepted by Astronomy &
Astrophysic
X-ray Bright Active Galactic Nuclei in Massive Galaxy Clusters I: Number Counts and Spatial Distribution
We present an analysis of the X-ray bright point source population in 43
massive clusters of galaxies observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We
have constructed a catalog of 4210 rigorously selected X-ray point sources in
these fields, which span a survey area of 4.2 square degrees. This catalog
reveals a clear excess of sources when compared to deep blank-field surveys,
which amounts to roughly 1 additional source per cluster, likely Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN) associated with the clusters. The excess sources are
concentrated within the virial radii of the clusters, with the largest excess
observed near the cluster centers. The average radial profile of the excess
X-ray sources of the cluster are well described by a power law (N(r) ~ r^\beta)
with an index of \beta ~ -0.5. An initial analysis using literature results on
the mean profile of member galaxies in massive X-ray selected clusters
indicates that the fraction of galaxies hosting X-ray AGN rises with increasing
clustercentric radius, being approximately 5 to 10 times higher near the virial
radius than in the central regions. This trend is qualitatively similar to that
observed for star formation in cluster member galaxies.Comment: 18 Pages, 10 Figures, Submitted to MNRAS. Please contact Steven
Ehlert ([email protected]) for higher resolution figures. Updated to
reflect small changes requested by referee. This version has been accepted
into MNRA
- …