No Arabic abstract
High-frequency, high-resolution imaging of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect is an important technique to study the complex structures of the atmospheres of merging galaxy clusters. Such observations are sensitive to the details of the electron spectrum. We show that the morphology of the SZ intensity maps in simulated galaxy clusters observed at 345 GHz, 600 GHz, and 857 GHz are significantly different because of SZ relativistic corrections. These differences can be revealed by high-resolution imaging instruments. We calculate relativistically corrected SZ intensity maps of a simulated, massive, merging galaxy cluster and of the massive, merging clusters 1E0657-558 (the Bullet Cluster) and Abell 2219. The morphologies of the SZ intensity maps are remarkably different between 345 GHz and 857 GHz for each merging cluster. We show that high-resolution imaging observations of the SZ intensity maps at these frequencies, obtainable with the LABOCA and HERSCHEL-SPIRE instruments, allow to fully exploit the astrophysical relevance of the predicted SZ morphological effect.
Observations of the X-ray band wavelength reveal an evident ellipticity of many galaxy clusters atmospheres. The modeling of the intracluster gas with an ellipsoidal $beta$-model leads to different estimates for the total gravitational mass and the gas mass fraction of the cluster than those one finds for a spherical beta-model. An analysis of a recent Chandra image of the galaxy cluster RBS797 indicates a strong ellipticity and thus a pronounced aspherical geometry. A preliminary investigation which takes into account an ellipsoidal shape for this cluster gives different mass estimates than by assuming spherical symmetry. We have also investigated the influence of aspherical geometries of galaxy clusters, and of polytropic profiles of the temperature on the estimate of the Hubble constant through the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. We find that the non-inclusion of such effects can induce errors up to 40 per cent on the Hubble constant value.
We investigate the influence of the finite extension and the aspherical geometry of a galaxy cluster on the estimate of the Hubble constant through the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. An analysis of a recent CHANDRA image of the galaxy cluster RBS797 indicates a strong ellipticity and thus a pronounced aspherical geometry. We estimate the total mass of RBS797 assuming spherical or ellipsoidal geometry and show that in the latter case the mass is about 10-17 % less than the one inferred for a spherical shape.
We report the direct detection of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich (kSZ) effect in galaxy clusters with a 3.5 sigma significance level. The measurement was performed by stacking the Planck map at 217 GHz at the positions of galaxy clusters from the Wen-Han-Liu (WHL) catalog. To avoid the cancelation of positive and negative kSZ signals, we used the large-scale distribution of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) galaxies to estimate the peculiar velocities of the galaxy clusters along the line of sight and incorporated the sign in the velocity-weighted stacking of the kSZ signals. Using this technique, we were able to measure the kSZ signal around galaxy clusters beyond 3R500. Assuming a standard beta-model, we also found that the gas fraction within R500 is fgas,500 = 0.12 +- 0.04 for the clusters with the mass of M500 ~ 1e14 Msun/h. We compared this result to predictions from the Magneticum cosmological hydrodynamic simulations as well as other kSZ and X-ray measurements, most of which show a lower gas fraction than the universal baryon fraction for the same mass of clusters. Our value is statistically consistent with results from the measurements and simulations and also with the universal value within our measurement uncertainty.
Starting from a covariant formalism of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect for the thermal and non-thermal distributions, we derive the frequency redistribution function identical to Wrights method assuming the smallness of the photon energy (in the Thomson limit). We also derive the redistribution function in the covariant formalism in the Thomson limit. We show that two redistribution functions are mathematically equivalent in the Thomson limit which is fully valid for the cosmic microwave background photon energies. We will also extend the formalism to the kinematical Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. With the present formalism we will clarify the situation for the discrepancy existed in the higher order terms of the kinematical Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect.
We present 10 to 18 images of four massive clusters of galaxies through the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect (SZE). These measurements, made at 90~GHz with the MUSTANG receiver on the Green Bank Telescope (GBT), reveal pressure sub-structure to the intra-cluster medium (ICM) in three of the four systems. We identify the likely presence of a previously unknown weak shock-front in MACS0744+3927. By fitting the Rankine-Hugoniot density jump conditions in a complementary SZE/X-ray analysis, we infer a Mach number of M = 1.2^{+0.2}_{-0.2} and a shock-velocity of 1827^{+267}_{-195}~km/s. In RXJ1347-1145, we present a new reduction of previously reported data and confirm the presence of a south-east SZE enhancement with a significance of 13.9 sigma when smoothed to 18 resolution. This too is likely caused by shock-heated gas produced in a recent merger. In our highest redshift system, CL1226+3332, we detect sub-structure at a peak significance of 4.6 sigma in the form of a ridge oriented orthogonally to the vector connecting the main mass peak and a sub-clump revealed by weak lensing. We also conclude that the gas distribution is elongated in a south-west direction, consistent with a previously proposed merger scenario. The SZE image of the cool core cluster Abell 1835 is, in contrast, consistent with azimuthally symmetric signal only. This pilot study demonstrates the potential of high-resolution SZE images to complement X-ray data and probe the dynamics of galaxy clusters