952 research outputs found
Calibration of the Mass-Temperature Relation for Clusters of Galaxies Using Weak Gravitational Lensing
The main uncertainty in current determinations of the power spectrum
normalization, sigma_8, from abundances of X-ray luminous galaxy clusters
arises from the calibration of the mass-temperature relation. We use our weak
lensing mass determinations of 30 clusters from the hitherto largest sample of
clusters with lensing masses, combined with X-ray temperature data from the
literature, to calibrate the normalization of this relation at a temperature of
8 keV, M_{500c,8 keV}=(8.7 +/- 1.6) h^{-1} 10^{14} M_sun. This normalization is
consistent with previous lensing-based results based on smaller cluster
samples, and with some predictions from numerical simulations, but higher than
most normalizations based on X-ray derived cluster masses. Assuming the
theoretically expected slope alpha=3/2 of the mass-temperature relation, we
derive sigma_8 = 0.88 +/-0.09 for a spatially-flat LambdaCDM universe with
Omega_m = 0.3. The main systematic errors on the lensing masses result from
extrapolating the cluster masses beyond the field-of-view used for the
gravitational lensing measurements, and from the separation of
cluster/background galaxies, contributing each with a scatter of 20%. Taking
this into account, there is still significant intrinsic scatter in the
mass-temperature relation indicating that this relation may not be very tight,
at least at the high mass end. Furthermore, we find that dynamically relaxed
clusters are 75 +/-40% hotter than non-relaxed clusters.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, revised version submitted to Ap
A Puzzling Merger in A3266: the Hydrodynamic Picture from XMM-Newton
Using the mosaic of nine XMM-Newton observations, we study the hydrodynamic
state of the merging cluster of galaxies Abell 3266. The high quality of the
spectroscopic data and large field of view of XMM-Netwon allow us to determine
the thermodynamic conditions of the intracluster medium on scales of order of
50 kpc. A high quality entropy map reveals the presence of an extended region
of low entropy gas, running from the primary cluster core toward the northeast
along the nominal merger axis. The mass of the low entropy gas amounts to
approximately 2e13 solar masses, which is comparable to the baryonic mass of
the core of a rich cluster. We test the possibility that the origin of the
observed low entropy gas is either related to the disruption a preexisting
cooling core in Abell 3266 or to the stripping of gas from an infalling
subcluster companion. We find that both the radial pressure and entropy
profiles as well as the iron abundance of Abell 3266 do not resemble those in
other known cooling core clusters (Abell 478). Thus we conclude that the low
entropy region is subcluster gas in the process of being stripped off from its
dark matter halo. In this scenario the subcluster would be falling onto the
core of A3266 from the foreground. This would also help interpret the observed
high velocity dispersion of the galaxies in the cluster center, provided that
the mass of the subcluster is at most a tenth of the mass of the main cluster.Comment: 6 pages, ApJ sub
Measuring Cluster Temperature Profiles with XMM/EPIC
Using the PV observation of A1795, we illustrate the capability of XMM-EPIC
to measure cluster temperature profiles, a key ingredient for the determination
of cluster mass profiles through the equation of hydrostatic equilibrium. We
develop a methodology for spatially resolved spectroscopy of extended sources,
adapted to XMM background and vignetting characteristics. The effect of the
particle induced background is discussed. A simple unbiased method is proposed
to correct for vignetting effects, in which every photon is weighted according
to its energy and location on the detector. We were able to derive the
temperature profile of A1795 up to 0.4 times the virial radius. A significant
and spatially resolved drop in temperature towards the center (r<200 kpc) is
observed, which corresponds to the cooling flow region of the cluster. Beyond
that region, the temperature is constant with no indication of a fall-off at
large radii out to 1.2 Mpc.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A (special Letter
issue on XMM
The North Ecliptic Pole Supercluster
We have used the ROSAT All-Sky Survey to detect a known supercluster at
z=0.087 in the North Ecliptic Pole region. The X-ray data greatly improve our
understanding of this supercluster's characteristics, approximately doubling
our knowledge of the structure's spatial extent and tripling the cluster/group
membership compared to the optical discovery data. The supercluster is a rich
structure consisting of at least 21 galaxy clusters and groups, 12 AGN, 61 IRAS
galaxies, and various other objects. A majority of these components were
discovered with the X-ray data, but the supercluster is also robustly detected
in optical, IR, and UV wavebands. Extending 129 x 102 x 67 (1/h50 Mpc)^3, the
North Ecliptic Pole Supercluster has a flattened shape oriented nearly edge-on
to our line-of-sight. Owing to the softness of the ROSAT X-ray passband and the
deep exposure over a large solid angle, we have detected for the first time a
significant population of X-ray emitting galaxy groups in a supercluster. These
results demonstrate the effectiveness of X-ray observations with contiguous
coverage for studying structure in the Universe.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal; 5 pages with 2
embedded figures; uses emulateapj.sty; For associated animations, see
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~mullis/nep3d.html; A high-resolution color
postscript version of the full paper is available at
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~mullis/papers/nepsc.ps.g
Understanding the high-mass binary black hole population from stable mass transfer and super-Eddington accretion in BPASS
With the remarkable success of the LVK consortium in detecting binary black
hole mergers, it has become possible to use the population properties to
constrain our understanding of the progenitor stars' evolution. The most
striking features of the observed primary black hole mass distributions are the
extended tail up to 100M and an excess of masses at 35M.
Currently, isolated binary population synthesis have difficulty explaining
these features. Using the well-tested BPASS detailed stellar binary evolution
models to determine mass transfer stability, accretion rates, and remnant
masses, we postulate that stable mass transfer with super-Eddington accretion
is responsible for the extended tail. Furthermore, that the excess is not due
to pulsation-pair instability, as previously thought, but due to stable mass
transfer. These systems are able to merge within the Hubble time due to more
stable mass transfer with extreme mass ratios that allows the orbits to shrink
sufficiently to allow for a merger. These finding are at odds with those from
other population synthesis codes but in agreement with other recent studies
using detailed binary evolution models.Comment: Submitted to MNRAS, comments welcome. 22 pages, 18 figures, 9 pages
supplementary materia
Observational implications of cosmologically coupled black holes
It was recently suggested that "cosmologically coupled" black holes with
masses that increase in proportion to the volume of the Universe might
constitute the physical basis of dark energy. We take this claim at face value
and discuss its potential astrophysical implications. We show that the
gravitational wave emission in binary systems would be significantly enhanced
so that the number of black hole mergers would exceed the observed rate by
orders of magnitude, with typical masses much larger than those seen by the
LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA network. Separately, if the mass growth happens at fixed
angular momentum, the supermassive black holes in matter-deficient elliptical
galaxies should be slowly rotating. Finally, cosmological coupling would
stabilize small black holes against Hawking radiation-induced evaporation.Comment: 11 Pages, 5 Figures, Matches Accepted versio
Group-cluster merging and the formation of starburst galaxies
A significant fraction of clusters of galaxies are observed to have
substructure, which implies that merging between clusters and subclusters is a
rather common physical process of cluster formation.
It still remains unclear how cluster merging affects the evolution of cluster
member galaxies.
We report the results of numerical simulations, which show the dynamical
evolution of a gas-rich late-type spiral in a merger between a small group of
galaxies and a cluster. The simulations demonstrate that time-dependent tidal
gravitational field of the merging excites non-axisymmetric structure of the
galaxy, subsequently drives efficient transfer of gas to the central region,
and finally triggers a secondary starburst.
This result provides not only a new mechanism of starbursts but also a close
physical relationship between the emergence of starburst galaxies and the
formation of substructure in clusters. We accordingly interpret post-starburst
galaxies located near substructure of the Coma cluster as one observational
example indicating the global tidal effects of group-cluster merging.
Our numerical results furthermore suggest a causal link between the observed
excess of blue galaxies in distant clusters and cluster virialization process
through hierarchical merging of subclusters.Comment: 5 pages 3 color figures, ApJL in pres
The ROSAT North Ecliptic Pole Survey: The Optical Identifications
The X-ray data around the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP) of the ROSAT All Sky
Survey have been used to construct a contiguous area survey consisting of a
sample of 445 individual X-ray sources above a flux of ~2x10^-14 erg cm^-2 s^-1
in the 0.5-2.0 keV energy band. The NEP survey is centered at RA (2000) = 18h
00m, DEC(2000) = +66deg 33arcmin and covers a region of 80.7 sq. deg at a
moderate Galactic latitude of b = 29.8deg. Hence, the NEP survey is as deep and
covers a comparable solid angle to the ROSAT serendipitous surveys, but is also
contiguous. We have identified 99.6% of the sources and determined redshifts
for the extragalactic objects. In this paper we present the optical
identifications of the NEP catalog of X-ray sources including basic X-ray data
and properties of the sources. We also describe with some detail the optical
identification procedure. The classification of the optical counterparts to the
NEP sources is very similar to that of previous surveys, in particular the
Einstein Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS). The main constituents of
the catalog are active galactic nuclei (~49%), either type 1 or type 2
according to the broadness of their permitted emission lines. Stellar
counterparts are the second most common identification class (~34%). Clusters
and groups of galaxies comprise 14%, and BL Lacertae objects 2%. One non-AGN
galaxy, and one planetary nebula have also been found. The NEP catalog of X-ray
sources is a homogeneous sample of astronomical objects featuring complete
optical identification.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJS; 33 pages including 12
postscript figures and 3 tables; uses emulateapj.sty. On-line source catalog
at http://www.eso.org/~cmullis/research/nep-catalog.htm
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