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Register a new userGalaxy cluster merger kinematics by Rees-Sciama effect
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We discuss how to use the Rees-Sciama (RS) effect associated with merging clusters of galaxies to measure their kinematic properties. In a previous work (Rubino-Martin et al. 2004), the morphology and symmetries of the effect were examined by means of a simplified model. Here, we use realistic N-body simulations to better describe the effect, and to confirm that the signal has a characteristic quadrupole structure. From the amplitude of the signal obtained, we conclude that it is necessary to combine several cluster mergers in order to achieve a detection. Using the extended Press-Schechter formalism, we characterized the expected distribution of the parameters describing the mergers, and we used these results to generate realistic mock catalogues of cluster mergers. To optimize the extraction of the RS signal, we developed an extension of the spatial filtering method described in Haehnelt & Tegmark (1996). This extended filter has a general definition, so it can be applied in many other fields, such as gravitational lensing of the CMB or lensing of background galaxies. It has been applied to our mock catalogues, and we show that with the announced sensitivities of future experiments like the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), the South Pole Telescope (SPT) or the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), a detection of the signal will be possible if we consider of the order of 1,000 cluster mergers.
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Observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) have revealed an unexpected quadrupole-octopole alignment along a preferred axis pointing toward the Virgo cluster. We here investigate whether this feature can be explained in the framework of the concordance model by secondary anisotropies produced by the non-linear evolution of the gravitational potential, the so-called Rees-Sciama (RS) effect. We focus on the effect caused by the local superclusters, which we calculate using a constrained high-resolution hydrodynamical simulation, based on the IRAS 1.2-Jy all-sky galaxy redshift survey, which reproduces the main structures of our Universe out to a distance of 110 Mpc from our Galaxy. The resulting RS effect peaks at low multipoles and has a minimum/maximum amplitude of -6.6mu K 1.9mu K. Even though its quadrupole is well aligned with the one measured for the CMB, its amplitude is not sufficient to explain the observed magnitude of the quadrupole/octopole alignment. In addition, we analyze the WMAP-3 data with a linear matched filter in an attempt to determine an upper limit for the RS signal amplitude on large scales. We found that it is possible to infer a weak upper limit of 30mu K for its maximum amplitude.
We introduce a new estimator for the mean pairwise velocities of galaxy clusters, which is based on the measurement of the clusters $textit{transverse}$ velocity components. The Rees-Sciama (RS) effect offers an opportunity to measure transverse peculiar velocities through its distinct dipolar signature around the halo centers in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature map. We exploit this dipolar structure to extract the magnitude and direction of the transverse velocity vectors from CMB maps simulated with the expected characteristics of future surveys like CMB-S4. Although in the presence of lensed CMB and instrumental noise individual velocities are not reliably reconstructed, we demonstrate that the mean pairwise velocity measurement obtained using the estimator yields a signal-to-noise ratio of $5.2$ for $sim21,000$ halos with $M > 7times10^{13}rm M_odot$ in a $40times40$ [deg$^2$] patch at $z=0.5$. While the proposed estimator carries promising prospects for measuring pairwise velocities through the RS effect in CMB stage IV experiments, its applications extend to any other potential probe of transverse velocities.
We present results from Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of Abell 98 (A98), a galaxy cluster with three major components: a relatively bright subcluster to the north (A98N), a disturbed subcluster to the south (A98S), and a fainter subcluster to the far south (A98SS). We find evidence for surface brightness and temperature asymmetries in A98N consistent with a shock-heated region to the south, which could be created by an early stage merger between A98N and A98S. Deeper observations are required to confirm this result. We also find that A98S has an asymmetric core temperature structure, likely due to a separate ongoing merger. Evidence for this is also seen in optical data. A98S hosts a wide-angle tail (WAT) radio source powered by a central active galactic nucleus (AGN). We find evidence for a cavity in the intracluster medium (ICM) that has been evacuated by one of the radio lobes, suggesting that AGN feedback is operating in this system. Examples of cavities in non-cool core clusters are relatively rare. The three subclusters lie along a line in projection, suggesting the presence of a large-scale filament. We observe emission along the filament between A98N and A98S, and a surface brightness profile shows emission consistent with the overlap of the subcluster extended gas haloes. We find the temperature of this region is consistent with the temperature of the gas at similar radii outside this bridge region. Lastly, we examine the cluster dynamics using optical data. We conclude A98N and A98S are likely bound to one another, with a 67% probability, while A98S and A98SS are not bound at a high level of significance.
We compile a sample of spectroscopically- and photometrically-selected cluster galaxies from four high-redshift galaxy clusters ($1.59 < z < 1.71$) from the Spitzer Adaptation of the Red-Sequence Cluster Survey (SpARCS), and a comparison field sample selected from the UKIDSS Deep Survey. Using near-infrared imaging from the textit{Hubble Space Telescope} we classify potential mergers involving massive ($M_* geq 3times 10^{10}mathrm{M}_odot$) cluster members by eye, based on morphological properties such as tidal distortions, double nuclei, and projected near neighbors within 20 kpc. With a catalogue of 23 spectroscopic and 32 photometric massive cluster members across the four clusters and 65 spectroscopic and 26 photometric comparable field galaxies, we find that after taking into account contamination from interlopers, $11.0 ^{+7.0}_{-5.6}%$ of the cluster members are involved in potential mergers, compared to $24.7^{+5.3}_{-4.6}%$ of the field galaxies. We see no evidence of merger enhancement in the central cluster environment with respect to the field, suggesting that galaxy-galaxy merging is not a stronger source of galaxy evolution in cluster environments compared to the field at these redshifts.
Analysis of a 30,000 s X-ray observation of the Abell 3266 galaxy cluster with the ACIS on board the Chandra Observatory has produced several new insights into the cluster merger. The intracluster medium has a non-monotonically decreasing radial abundance profile. We argue that the most plausible origin for the abundance enhancement is unmixed, high abundance subcluster gas from the merger. The enrichment consists of two stages: off-center deposition of a higher abundance material during a subcluster merger followed by a strong, localized intracluster wind that acts to drive out the light elements, producing the observed abundance enhancement. The wind is needed to account for both an increase in the heavy element abundance and the lack of an enhancement in the gas density. Dynamical evidence for the wind includes: (1) a large scale, low surface brightness feature perpendicular to the merger axis that appears to be an asymmetric pattern of gas flow to the northwest, away from the center of the main cluster, (2) compressed gas in the opposite direction (toward the cluster center), and (3), the hottest regions visible in the temperature map coincide with the proposed merger geometry and the resultant gas flow. The Chandra data for the central region of the main cluster shows a slightly cooler, filamentary region that is centered on the central cD galaxy and is aligned with the merger axis directly linking the dynamical state of the cD to the merger. Overall, the high spectral/spatial resolution Chandra observations support our earlier hypothesis (Henriksen, Donnelly, & Davis 1999) that we are viewing a minor merger in the plane of the sky.
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