No Arabic abstract
Most cool core clusters of galaxies possess active galactic nuclei (AGN) in their centers. These AGN inflate buoyant bubbles containing non-thermal radio emitting particles. If such bubbles efficiently confine cosmic rays (CR) then this could explain ``radio ghosts seen far from cluster centers. We simulate the diffusion of cosmic rays from buoyant bubbles inflated by AGN. Our simulations include the effects of the anisotropic particle diffusion introduced by magnetic fields. Our models are consistent with the X-ray morphology of AGN bubbles, with disruption being suppressed by the magnetic draping effect. We conclude that for such magnetic field topologies, a substantial fraction of cosmic rays can be confined inside the bubbles on buoyant rise timescales even when the parallel diffusivity coefficient is very large. For isotropic diffusion at a comparable level, cosmic rays would leak out of the bubbles too rapidly to be consistent with radio observations. Thus, the long confinement times associated with the magnetic suppression of CR diffusion can explain the presence of radio ghosts. We show that the partial escape of cosmic rays is mostly confined to the wake of the rising bubbles, and speculate that this effect could: (1) account for the excitation of the H$alpha$ filaments trailing behind the bubbles in the Perseus cluster, (2) inject entropy into the metal enriched material being lifted by the bubbles and, thus, help to displace it permanently from the cluster center and (3) produce observable $gamma$-rays via the interaction of the diffusing cosmic rays with the thermal intracluster medium (ICM).
We explore physical properties of the shocked external medium (i.e., a shell) in 3C 84 associated with the recurrent radio lobe born around 1960. In the previous work of Ito et al., we investigated a dynamical and radiative evolution of such a shell after the central engine stops the jet launching and we found that a fossil shell emission overwhelms that of the rapidly fading radio lobe. We apply this model to 3C 84 and find the followings: (i) The fossil shell made of shocked diffuse ambient matter with the number density of 0.3 cm$^{-3}$ radiates bright Inverse-Compton (IC) emission with the seed photons of the radio emission from the central compact region and the IC emission is above the sensitivity threshold of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). (ii) When the fossil shell is produced in a geometrically thick ionized plasma with the number density of $10^{3}$ cm$^{-3}$ and the field strength in the shell may reach about 17 mG in the presence of magnetic fields amplification and the radio emission becomes comparable to the sensitivity of deep imaging VLBI observations. A possible production of ultra high energy cosmic-rays (UHECRs) in the dense shocked plasma is also argued.
We report the discovery of seven new fossil systems in the 400d cluster survey. Our search targets nearby, $zle0.2$, and X-ray bright, $L_Xge 10^{43}$ erg sec$^{-1}$, clusters of galaxies. Where available, we measure the optical luminosities from Sloan Digital Sky Survey images, thereby obtaining uniform sets of both X-ray and optical data. Our selection criteria identify 12 fossil systems, out of which five are known from previous studies. While in general agreement with earlier results, our larger sample size allows us to put tighter constraints on the number density of fossil clusters. It has been previously reported that fossil groups are more X-ray bright than other X-ray groups of galaxies for the same optical luminosity. We find, however, that the X-ray brightness of massive fossil systems is consistent with that of the general population of galaxy clusters and follows the same $L_X-L_{rm opt}$ scaling relation.
Fossil galaxy groups are spatially extended X-ray sources with X-ray luminosities above L_X,bol > 10^42 h_50^-2 ergs s^-1 and a central elliptical galaxy dominating the optical, the second-brightest galaxy being at least 2 magnitudes fainter in the R band. Whether these systems are a distinct class of objects resulting from exceptional formation and evolution histories is still unclear, mainly due to the small number of objects studied so far, mostly lacking spectroscopy of group members for group membership confirmation and a detailed kinematical analysis. To complement the scarce sample of spectroscopically studied fossils down to their faint galaxy populations, the fossil candidate RX J1548.9+0851 (z=0.072) is studied in this work. Our results are compared with existing data from fossils in the literature. We use ESO VLT VIMOS multi-object spectroscopy to determine redshifts of the faint galaxy population and study the luminosity-weighted dynamics and luminosity function of the system. The full-spectrum fitting package ULySS is used to determine ages and metallicities of group members. VIMOS imaging data are used to study the morphology of the central elliptical. We identify 40 group members spectroscopically within the central ~300 kpc of the system and find 31 additional redshifts from the literature, resulting in a total number of 54 spectroscopically confirmed group members within 1 Mpc. RX J1548.9+0851 is made up of two bright ellipticals in the central region with a magnitude gap of m_1,2 = 1.34 in the SDSS r band leaving the definition of RX J1548.9+0851 being a fossil to the assumption of the virial radius. We find a luminosity-weighted velocity dispersion of 568 km s^-1 and a mass of ~2.5 x 10^14 M_sun for the system confirming previous studies that revealed fossils to be massive. (abridged)
Recent efforts in cosmic ray (CR) confinement and transport theory are discussed. Three problems are addressed as being crucial for understanding the present day observations and their possible telltale signs of the CR origin. The first problem concerns CR behavior right after their release from a source, such as a supernova remnant (SNR). At this phase the CRs are confined near the source by self-emitted Alfven waves. The second is the problem of diffusive propagation of CRs through the turbulent ISM. This is a seemingly straightforward and long-resolved problem, but it remains controversial and reveals paradoxes. A resolution based on the Chapman-Enskog asymptotic CR transport analysis, that also includes magnetic focusing, is suggested. The third problem is about a puzzling sharp ($sim10^{circ}$) anisotropies in the CR arrival directions that might bear on important clues of their transport between the source and observer. The overarching goal is to improve our understanding of all aspects of the CRs source escape and ensuing propagation through the galaxy to the level at which their sources can be identified observationally.
While rich clusters are powerful sources of X-rays, gamma-ray emission from these large cosmic structures has not been detected yet. X-ray radiative energy losses in the central regions of relaxed galaxy clusters are so strong that one needs to consider special sources of energy, likely AGN feedback, to suppress catastrophic cooling of the gas. We consider a model of AGN feedback that postulates that the AGN supplies the energy to the gas by inflating bubbles of relativistic plasma, whose energy content is dominated by cosmic-ray (CR) hadrons. If most of these hadrons can quickly escape the bubbles, then collisions of CRs with thermal protons in the intracluster medium (ICM) should lead to strong gamma-ray emission, unless fast diffusion of CRs removes them from the cluster. Therefore, the lack of detections with modern gamma-ray telescopes sets limits on the confinement time of CR hadrons in bubbles and CR diffusive propagation in the ICM.