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Register a new userCan AGN and galaxy clusters explain the surface brightness fluctuations of the cosmic X-ray background?
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Alexander Kolodzig Dr.
Publication date
2016
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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Fluctuations of the surface brightness of cosmic X-ray background (CXB) carry unique information about faint and low luminosity source populations, which is inaccessible for conventional large-scale structure (LSS) studies based on resolved sources. We used Chandra data of the XBOOTES field ($sim9,mathrm{deg^2}$) to conduct the most accurate measurement to date of the power spectrum of fluctuations of the unresolved CXB on the angular scales of $sim3,$arcsec $-$ $sim17,$arcmin. We find that at sub-arcmin angular scales, the power spectrum is consistent with the AGN shot noise, without much need for any significant contribution from their one-halo term. This is consistent with the theoretical expectation that low-luminosity AGN reside alone in their dark matter halos. However, at larger angular scales we detect a significant LSS signal above the AGN shot noise. Its power spectrum, obtained after subtracting the AGN shot noise, follows a power law with the slope of $-0.8pm0.1$ and its amplitude is much larger than what can be plausibly explained by the two-halo term of AGN. We demonstrate that the detected LSS signal is produced by unresolved clusters and groups of galaxies. For the flux limit of the XBOOTES survey, their flux-weighted mean redshift equals $left<zright>sim0.3$, and the mean temperature of their intracluster medium (ICM), $left<Tright>approx 1.4$ keV, corresponds to the mass of $M_{500} sim 10^{13.5},mathrm{M}_odot$. The power spectrum of CXB fluctuations carries information about the redshift distribution of these objects and the spatial structure of their ICM on the linear scales of up to $sim$Mpc, i.e. of the order of the virial radius.
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We study the surface brightness fluctuations of the cosmic X-ray background (CXB) using Chandra data of XBOOTES. After masking out resolved sources we compute the power spectrum of fluctuations of the unresolved CXB for angular scales from ~2 arcsec to ~3 deg. The non-trivial large-scale structure (LSS) signal dominates over the shot-noise of unresolved point sources at all scales above ~1 arcmin and is produced mainly by the intracluster medium (ICM) of unresolved clusters and groups of galaxies, as shown in our previous publication. The shot-noise-subtracted power spectrum of CXB fluctuations has a power-law shape with the slope of $Gamma = 0.96 pm 0.06$. Its energy spectrum is well described by the redshifted emission spectrum of optically-thin plasma with the best-fit temperature of $T approx 1.3$ keV and the best-fit redshift of $z approx 0.40$. They are in good agreement with theoretical expectations based on the X-ray luminosity function and scaling relations of clusters. From these values we estimate the typical mass and luminosity of the objects responsible for CXB fluctuations, $M_{500} sim 10^{13.6},{rm M}_{odot}/h$ and $L_{0.5-2.0,{rm keV}} sim 10^{42.5}$ erg/s. On the other hand, the flux-weighted mean temperature and redshift of resolved clusters are $T approx 2.4$ keV and $z approx 0.23$, confirming that fluctuations of unresolved CXB are caused by cooler (i.e. less massive) and more distant clusters, as expected. We show that the power spectrum shape is sensitive to the ICM structure all the way to the outskirts, out to $sim{rm few}times R_{500}$. We also look for possible contribution of the warm-hot intergalactic medium (WHIM) to the observed CXB fluctuations. Our results underline the significant diagnostics potential of the CXB fluctuation analysis in studying the ICM structure in clusters.
We show that Compton scattering by electrons of the hot intergalactic gas in galaxy clusters should lead to peculiar distortions of the cosmic background X-ray and soft gamma-ray radiation - an increase in its brightness at E<60-100 keV and a drop at higher energies. The distortions allow the most important cluster parameters to be measured. The spectral shape of the distortions and its dependence on the gas temperature, optical depth, and surface density distribution law have been studied using Monte Carlo computations and confirmed by analytical estimations. In the cluster frame the maximum of the background decrease due to the recoil effect occurs at ~500-600 keV. The photoionization of H- and He-like iron and nickel ions leads to additional distortions in the background spectrum - a strong absorption line with the threshold at ~9 keV (and also to an absorption jump at ~2 keV for cold clusters). The absorption of intrinsic thermal radiation from the cluster gas by these ions also leads to such lines. In nearby (z<1) clusters the line at ~2 keV is noticeably enhanced by absorption in the colder (~10^6 K) plasma of their peripheral (~3 Mpc) regions; moreover, the absorption line at ~1.3 keV splits off from it. The redshift of distant clusters shifts the absorption lines in the background spectrum (at ~2, ~9, and ~500 keV) to lower energies. Thus, in contrast to the microwave background scattering effect, this effect depends on the cluster redshift z, but in a very peculiar way. When observing clusters at z>1, the effect allows one to determine how the X-ray background evolved and how it was gathered with z. To detect the effect, the accuracy of measurements should reach ~0.1%. We consider the most promising clusters for observing the effect and discuss the techniques whereby the influence of the thermal gas radiation hindering the detection of background distortions should be minimal.
X-ray spectra of galaxy clusters are dominated by the thermal emission from the hot intracluster medium. In some cases, besides the thermal component, spectral models require additional components associated, e.g., with resonant scattering and charge exchange. The latter produces mostly underluminous fine spectral features. Detection of the extra components therefore requires high spectral resolution. The upcoming X-ray missions will provide such high resolution, and will allow spectroscopic diagnostics of clusters beyond the current simple thermal modeling. A representative science case is resonant scattering, which produces spectral distortions of the emission lines from the dominant thermal component. Accounting for the resonant scattering is essential for accurate abundance and gas motion measurements of the ICM. The high resolution spectroscopy might also reveal/corroborate a number of new spectral components, including the excitation by non-thermal electrons, the deviation from ionization equilibrium, and charge exchange from surface of cold gas clouds in clusters. Apart from detecting new features, future high resolution spectroscopy will also enable a much better measurement of the thermal component. Accurate atomic database and appropriate modeling of the thermal spectrum are therefore needed for interpreting the data.
The Fermi satellite has recently detected gamma ray emission from the central regions of our Galaxy. This may be evidence for dark matter particles, a major component of the standard cosmological model, annihilating to produce high-energy photons. We show that the observed signal may instead be generated by millisecond pulsars that formed in dense star clusters in the Galactic halo. Most of these clusters were ultimately disrupted by evaporation and gravitational tides, contributing to a spherical bulge of stars and stellar remnants. The gamma ray amplitude, angular distribution, and spectral signatures of this source may be predicted without free parameters, and are in remarkable agreement with the observations. These gamma rays are from fossil remains of dispersed clusters, telling the history of the Galactic bulge.
Hard X-ray ($geq 10$ keV) observations of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) can shed light on some of the most obscured episodes of accretion onto supermassive black holes. The 70-month Swift/BAT all-sky survey, which probes the 14-195 keV energy range, has currently detected 838 AGN. We report here on the broad-band X-ray (0.3-150 keV) characteristics of these AGN, obtained by combining XMM-Newton, Swift/XRT, ASCA, Chandra, and Suzaku observations in the soft X-ray band ($leq 10$ keV) with 70-month averaged Swift/BAT data. The non-blazar AGN of our sample are almost equally divided into unobscured ($N_{rm H}< 10^{22}rm cm^{-2}$) and obscured ($N_{rm H}geq 10^{22}rm cm^{-2}$) AGN, and their Swift/BAT continuum is systematically steeper than the 0.3-10 keV emission, which suggests that the presence of a high-energy cutoff is almost ubiquitous. We discuss the main X-ray spectral parameters obtained, such as the photon index, the reflection parameter, the energy of the cutoff, neutral and ionized absorbers, and the soft excess for both obscured and unobscured AGN.
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