No Arabic abstract
Do cool-core (CC) and noncool-core (NCC) clusters live in different environments? We make novel use of H$alpha$ emission lines in the central galaxies of redMaPPer clusters as proxies to construct large (1,000s) samples of CC and NCC clusters, and measure their relative assembly bias using both clustering and weak lensing. We increase the statistical significance of the bias measurements from clustering by cross-correlating the clusters with an external galaxy redshift catalog from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III, the LOWZ sample. Our cross-correlations can constrain assembly bias up to a statistical uncertainty of 6%. Given our H$alpha$ criteria for CC and NCC, we find no significant differences in their clustering amplitude. Interpreting this difference as the absence of halo assembly bias, our results rule out the possibility of having different large-scale (tens of Mpc) environments as the source of diversity observed in cluster cores. Combined with recent observations of the overall mild evolution of CC and NCC properties, such as central density and CC fraction, this would suggest that either the cooling properties of the cluster core are determined early on solely by the local (<200 kpc) gas properties at formation or that local merging leads to stochastic CC relaxation and disruption in a periodic way, preserving the average population properties over time. Studying the small-scale clustering in clusters at high redshift would help shed light on the exact scenario.
Cool-core clusters are characterized by strong surface brightness peaks in the X-ray emission from the Intra Cluster Medium (ICM). This phenomenon is associated with complex physics in the ICM and has been a subject of intense debate and investigation in recent years. In order to quantify the evolution in the cool-core cluster population, we robustly measure the cool-core strength in a local, representative cluster sample, and in the largest sample of high-redshift clusters available to date. We use high-resolution Chandra data of three representative cluster samples spanning different redshift ranges: (i) the local sample from the 400 SD survey with median z = 0.08, (ii) the high redshift sample from the 400 SD Survey with median z=0.59, and (iii) 15 clusters drawn from the RDCS and the WARPS, with median z = 0.83. Our analysis is based on the measurement of the surface brightness concentration, c_SB, which allows us to characterize the cool-core strength in low signal-to-noise data. We also obtain gas density profiles to derive cluster central cooling times and entropy. In addition to the X-ray analysis, we search for radio counterparts associated with the cluster cores. We find a statistically significant difference in the c_SB distributions of the two high-z samples, pointing towards a lack of concentrated clusters in the 400 SD high-z sample. Taking this into account, we confirm a negative evolution in the fraction of cool-core clusters with redshift, in particular for very strong cool-cores. This result is validated by the central entropy and central cooling time, which show strong anti-correlations with c_SB. However, the amount of evolution is significantly smaller than previously claimed, leaving room for a large population of well formed cool-cores at z~1.
We present results obtained from a set of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations of galaxy clusters, aimed at comparing predictions with observational data on the diversity between cool-core (CC) and non-cool-core (NCC) clusters. Our simulations include the effects of stellar and AGN feedback and are based on an improved version of the smoothed particle hydrodynamics code GADGET-3, which ameliorates gas mixing and better captures gas-dynamical instabilities by including a suitable artificial thermal diffusion. In this Letter, we focus our analysis on the entropy profiles, the primary diagnostic we used to classify the degree of cool-coreness of clusters, and on the iron profiles. In keeping with observations, our simulated clusters display a variety of behaviors in entropy profiles: they range from steadily decreasing profiles at small radii, characteristic of cool-core systems, to nearly flat core isentropic profiles, characteristic of non-cool-core systems. Using observational criteria to distinguish between the two classes of objects, we find that they occur in similar proportions in both simulations and in observations. Furthermore, we also find that simulated cool-core clusters have profiles of iron abundance that are steeper than those of NCC clusters, which is also in agreement with observational results. We show that the capability of our simulations to generate a realistic cool-core structure in the cluster population is due to AGN feedback and artificial thermal diffusion: their combined action allows us to naturally distribute the energy extracted from super-massive black holes and to compensate for the radiative losses of low-entropy gas with short cooling time residing in the cluster core.
Dark matter halo clustering depends not only on halo mass, but also on other properties such as concentration and shape. This phenomenon is known broadly as assembly bias. We explore the dependence of assembly bias on halo definition, parametrized by spherical overdensity parameter, $Delta$. We summarize the strength of concentration-, shape-, and spin-dependent halo clustering as a function of halo mass and halo definition. Concentration-dependent clustering depends strongly on mass at all $Delta$. For conventional halo definitions ($Delta sim 200mathrm{m}-600mathrm{m}$), concentration-dependent clustering at low mass is driven by a population of haloes that is altered through interactions with neighbouring haloes. Concentration-dependent clustering can be greatly reduced through a mass-dependent halo definition with $Delta sim 20mathrm{m}-40mathrm{m}$ for haloes with $M_{200mathrm{m}} lesssim 10^{12}, h^{-1}mathrm{M}_{odot}$. Smaller $Delta$ implies larger radii and mitigates assembly bias at low mass by subsuming altered, so-called backsplash haloes into now larger host haloes. At higher masses ($M_{200mathrm{m}} gtrsim 10^{13}, h^{-1}mathrm{M}_{odot}$) larger overdensities, $Delta gtrsim 600mathrm{m}$, are necessary. Shape- and spin-dependent clustering are significant for all halo definitions that we explore and exhibit a relatively weaker mass dependence. Generally, both the strength and the sense of assembly bias depend on halo definition, varying significantly even among common definitions. We identify no halo definition that mitigates all manifestations of assembly bias. A halo definition that mitigates assembly bias based on one halo property (e.g., concentration) must be mass dependent. The halo definitions that best mitigate concentration-dependent halo clustering do not coincide with the expected average splashback radii at fixed halo mass.
The central regions of cool-core galaxy clusters harbour multiphase gas with temperatures ranging from $10 mathrm{K}$--$10^7 mathrm{K}$. Feedback from AGN jets prevents the gas from undergoing a catastrophic cooling flow. However, the exact mechanism of this feedback energy input is unknown, mainly due to the lack of velocity measurements of the hot phase gas, which has large thermal velocities. However, recent observations have measured the velocity structure functions ($mathrm{VSF}$s) of the cooler phases (at $10 mathrm{K}$ and $10^4 mathrm{K}$) and used them to indirectly estimate the motions of the hot phase. In the first part of this study, we conduct high-resolution ($384^3$--$1536^3$ resolution elements) simulations of homogeneous isotropic subsonic turbulence, without radiative cooling. We analyse the second-order velocity structure functions ($mathrm{VSF}_2$) in these simulations and study the effects of varying spatial resolution, the introduction of magnetic fields and the effect of line of sight (LOS) projection on the $mathrm{VSF}_2$. In the second part of the study, we analyse high-resolution ($768^3$ resolution elements) idealised simulations of multiphase turbulence in the intracluster medium (ICM) from Mohapatra et al 2021. We compare $mathrm{VSF}_2$ for both the hot ($Tsim10^7 mathrm{K}$) and cold ($Tsim10^4 mathrm{K}$) phases. We also look for the effect of LOS projection. For turbulence without radiative cooling, we observe a steepening in the slopes of the $mathrm{VSF}_2$ upon projection. In our runs with radiative cooling and multiphase gas, we find that the $mathrm{VSF}_2$ of the hot and cold phases have similar scaling, but introducing magnetic fields steepens the $mathrm{VSF}_2$ of the cold phase only. We also find that projection along the LOS steepens the $mathrm{VSF}_2$ for the hot phase and mostly flattens it for the cold phase.
We present significant evidence of halo assembly bias for SDSS redMaPPer galaxy clusters in the redshift range $[0.1, 0.33]$. By dividing the 8,648 clusters into two subsamples based on the average member galaxy separation from the cluster center, we first show that the two subsamples have very similar halo mass of $M_{rm 200m}simeq 1.9times 10^{14}~h^{-1}M_odot$ based on the weak lensing signals at small radii $R<sim 10~h^{-1}{rm Mpc}$. However, their halo bias inferred from both the large-scale weak lensing and the projected auto-correlation functions differs by a factor of $sim$1.5, which is a signature of assembly bias. The same bias hypothesis for the two subsamples is excluded at 2.5$sigma$ in the weak lensing and 4.4$sigma$ in the auto-correlation data, respectively. This result could bring a significant impact on both galaxy evolution and precision cosmology.