Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userGiant cavities, cooling and metallicity substructure in Abell 2204
211
0
0.0
(
0
)
Authors
J.S. Sanders IoA
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
We present results from deep Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of the relaxed X-ray luminous galaxy cluster Abell 2204. We detect metallicity inhomogeneities in the intracluster medium on a variety of distance scales, from a ~12 kpc enhancement containing a few times 10^7 Msun of iron in the centre, to a region at 400 kpc radius with an excess of a few times 10^9 Msun. Subtracting an average surface brightness profile from the X-ray image yields two surface brightness depressions to the north and south of the cluster. Their morphology is similar to the cavities observed in cluster cores, but they have radii of 240 kpc and 160 kpc and have a total enthalpy of 2x10^62 erg. If they are fossil radio bubbles, their buoyancy timescales imply a total mechanical heating power of 5x10^46 erg/s, the largest such bubble heating power known. More likely, they result from the accumulation of many past bubbles. Energetically this is more feasible, as the enthalpy of these regions could combat X-ray cooling in this cluster to 500 kpc radius for around 2 Gyr. The core of the cluster also contains five to seven ~4 kpc radius surface brightness depressions that are not associated with the observed radio emission. If they are bubbles generated by the nucleus, they are too small to balance cooling in the core by an order of magnitude. However if the radio axis is close to the line of sight, projection effects may mask more normal bubbles. Using RGS spectra we detect a FeXVII line. Spectral fitting reveals temperatures down to ~0.7 keV; the cluster therefore shows a range in X-ray temperature of at least a factor of 15. The quantity of low temperature gas is consistent with a mass deposition rate of 65 Msun/yr.
rate research
Read More
The rich galaxy cluster Abell 2204 exhibits edges in its X-ray surface brightness at $sim 65$ and $35 {rm~ kpc}$ west and east of its center, respectively. The presence of these edges, which were interpreted as sloshing cold fronts, implies that the intracluster medium was recently disturbed. We analyze the properties of the intracluster medium using multiple Chandra observations of Abell 2204. We find a density ratio $n_{rm in}/n_{rm out} = 2.05pm0.05$ and a temperature ratio $T_{rm out}/T_{rm in} = 1.91pm0.27$ (projected, or $1.87pm0.56$ deprojected) across the western edge, and correspondingly $n_{rm in}/n_{rm out} = 1.96pm0.05$ and $T_{rm out}/T_{rm in} =1.45pm0.15$ (projected, or $1.25pm0.26$ deprojected) across the eastern edge. These values are typical of cold fronts in galaxy clusters. This, together with the spiral pattern observed in the cluster core, supports the sloshing scenario for Abell 2204. No Kelvin-Helmholtz eddies are observed along the cold front surfaces, indicating that they are effectively suppressed by some physical mechanism. We argue that the suppression is likely facilitated by the magnetic fields amplified in the sloshing motion, and deduce from the measured gas properties that the magnetic field strength should be greater than $24pm6$ $mu$G and $32pm8$ $mu$G along the west and east cold fronts, respectively.
Recent data have radically altered the X-ray perspective on cooling flow clusters. X-ray spectra show that very little of the hot intracluster medium is cooler than about 1 keV, despite having short cooling times. In an increasing number of cooling flow clusters, the lobes of a central radio source are found to have created cavities in the hot gas. Generally, the cavities are not overpressured relative to the intracluster gas, but act as buoyant bubbles of radio emitting plasma that drive circulation as they rise, mixing and heating the intracluster gas. All this points to the radio source, i.e. an active galactic nucleus, as the heat source that prevents gas from cooling to low temperatures. However, heating due to bubbles alone seems to be insufficient, so the energetics of cooling flows remain obscure. We briefly review the data and theory supporting this view and discuss the energetics of cooling flows.
New radio data is presented for the rich cluster Abell 2163. The cluster radio emission is characterized by the presence of a radio halo, which is one of the most powerful and extended halos known so far. In the NE peripheral cluster region, we also detect diffuse elongated emission, which we classify as a cluster relic. The cluster A2163 is very hot and luminous in X-ray. Its central region is probably in a highly non relaxed state, suggesting that this cluster is likely to be a recent merger. The existence of a radio halo in this cluster confirms that halos are associated with hot massive clusters, and confirms the connection between radio halos and cluster merger processes. The comparison between the radio emission of the halo and the cluster X-ray emission shows a close structural similarity. A power law correlation is found between the radio and X-ray brightness, with index = 0.64. We also report the upper limit to the hard X-ray emission, obtained from a BeppoSAX observation. We discuss the implications of our results.
Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed X-ray cavities in many nearby cooling flow clusters. The cavities trace feedback from the central active galactic nulceus (AGN) on the intracluster medium (ICM), an important ingredient in stabilizing cooling flows and in the process of galaxy formation and evolution. But, the prevalence and duty cycle of such AGN outbursts is not well understood. To this end, we study how the cooling is balanced by the cavity heating for a complete sample of clusters (the Brightest 55 clusters of galaxies, hereafter B55). In the B55, we found 33 cooling flow clusters, 20 of which have detected X-ray bubbles in their ICM. Among the remaining 13, all except Ophiuchus could have significant cavity power yet remain undetected in existing images. This implies that the duty cycle of AGN outbursts with significant heating potential in cooling flow clusters is at least 60 % and could approach 100 %, but deeper data is required to constrain this further.
Analysis of spatially resolved ASCA spectra of the intracluster gas in Abell 496 confirms there are mild metal abundance enhancements near the center, as previously found by White et al. (1994) in a joint analysis of Ginga LAC and Einstein SSS spectra. Simultaneous analysis of spectra from all ASCA instruments (SIS + GIS) shows that the iron abundance is 0.36 +- 0.03 solar 3-12 from the center of the cluster and rises ~50% to 0.53 +- 0.04 solar within the central 2. The F-test shows that this abundance gradient is significant at the >99.99% level. Nickel and sulfur abundances are also centrally enhanced. We use a variety of elemental abundance ratios to assess the relative contribution of SN Ia and SN II to the metal enrichment of the intracluster gas. We find spatial gradients in several abundance ratios, indicating that the fraction of iron from SN Ia increases toward the cluster center, with SN Ia accounting for ~50% of the iron mass 3-12 from the center and ~70% within 2. The increased proportion of SN Ia ejecta at the center is such that the central iron abundance enhancement can be attributed wholly to SN Ia; we find no significant gradient in SN II ejecta. These spatial gradients in the proportion of SN Ia/II ejecta imply that the dominant metal enrichment mechanism near the center is different than in the outer parts of the cluster. We show that the central abundance enhancement is unlikely to be due to ram pressure stripping of gas from cluster galaxies, or to secularly accumulated stellar mass loss within the central cD. We suggest that the additional SN Ia ejecta near the center is the vestige of a secondary SN Ia-driven wind from the cD (following a more energetic protogalactic SN II-driven wind phase), which was partially smothered in the cD due to its location at the cluster center.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
