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Register a new userShocks and cold fronts in merging and massive galaxy clusters: new detections with Chandra
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A number of merging galaxy clusters shows the presence of shocks and cold fronts, i.e. sharp discontinuities in surface brightness and temperature. The observation of these features requires an X-ray telescope with high spatial resolution like Chandra, and allows to study important aspects concerning the physics of the intra-cluster medium (ICM), such as its thermal conduction and viscosity, as well as to provide information on the physical conditions leading to the acceleration of cosmic rays and magnetic field amplification in the cluster environment. In this work we search for new discontinuities in 15 merging and massive clusters observed with Chandra by using different imaging and spectral techniques of X-ray observations. Our analysis led to the discovery of 22 edges: six shocks, eight cold fronts and eight with uncertain origin. All the six shocks detected have $mathcal{M} < 2$ derived from density and temperature jumps. This work contributed to increase the number of discontinuities detected in clusters and shows the potential of combining diverse approaches aimed to identify edges in the ICM. A radio follow-up of the shocks discovered in this paper will be useful to study the connection between weak shocks and radio relics.
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Table of contents (abridged): COLD FRONTS Origin and evolution of merger cold fronts Cold fronts in cluster cool cores . . . Simulations of gas sloshing. Origin of density discontinuity. . . . Effect of sloshing on cluster mass estimates and cooling flows. Zoology of cold fronts COLD FRONTS AS EXPERIMENTAL TOOL Velocities of gas flows Thermal conduction and diffusion across cold fronts Stability of cold fronts . . . Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. Possible future measurements using cold fronts . . . Plasma depletion layer and magnetic field. Effective viscosity of ICM. SHOCK FRONTS AS EXPERIMENTAL TOOL Cluster merger shocks Mach number determination Front width Mach cone and reverse shock? Test of electron-ion equilibrium . . . Comparison with other astrophysical plasmas Shocks and cluster cosmic ray population . . . Shock acceleration. Compression of fossil electrons. . . . Yet another method to measure intracluster magnetic field.
Cold Fronts and shocks are hallmarks of the complex intra-cluster medium (ICM) in galaxy clusters. They are thought to occur due to gas motions within the ICM and are often attributed to galaxy mergers within the cluster. Using hydro-cosmological simulations of clusters of galaxies, we show that collisions of inflowing gas streams, seen to penetrate to the very centre of about half the clusters, offer an additional mechanism for the formation of shocks and cold fronts in cluster cores. Unlike episodic merger events, a gas stream inflow persists over a period of several Gyrs and it could generate a particular pattern of multiple cold fronts and shocks.
Cold fronts have been observed in a large number of galaxy clusters. Understanding their nature and origin is of primary importance for the investigation of the internal dynamics of clusters. To gain insight on the nature of these features, we carry out a statistical investigation of their occurrence in a sample of galaxy clusters observed with XMM-Newton and we correlate their presence with different cluster properties. We have selected a sample of 45 clusters starting from the B55 flux limited sample by Edge et al. (1990) and performed a systematic search of cold fronts. We find that a large fraction of clusters host at least one cold front. Cold fronts are easily detected in all systems that are manifestly undergoing a merger event in the plane of the sky while the presence of such features in the remaining clusters is related to the presence of a steep entropy gradient, in agreement with theoretical expectations. Assuming that cold fronts in cool core clusters are triggered by minor merger events, we estimate a minimum of 1/3 merging events per halo per Gyr.
The most massive baryonic component of galaxy clusters is the intracluster medium (ICM), a diffuse, hot, weakly magnetized plasma that is most easily observed in the X-ray band. Despite being observed for decades, the macroscopic transport properties of the ICM are still not well-constrained. A path to determine macroscopic ICM properties opened up with the discovery of cold fronts. These were observed as sharp discontinuities in surface brightness and temperature in the ICM, with the property that the brighter (and denser) side of the discontinuity is the colder one. The high spatial resolution of the Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed two puzzles about the cold fronts. First, they should be subject to Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilites, yet in many cases they appear relatively smooth and undisturbed. Second, the width of the interface between the two gas phases is typically narrower than the mean free path of the particles in the plasma, indicating negligible thermal conduction. From the time of their discovery, it was realized that these special characteristics of cold fronts may be used to probe the physical properties of the cluster plasma. In this review, we will discuss the recent simulations of cold front formation and evolution in galaxy clusters, with a focus on those which have attempted to use these features to constrain the physics of the ICM. In particular, we will focus on the effects of magnetic fields, viscosity, and thermal conductivity on the stability properties and long-term evolution of cold fronts. We conclude with a discussion on what important questions remain unanswered, and the future role of simulations and the next generation of X-ray observatories.
(Abridged) Cold fronts in cluster cool cores should be erased on short timescales by thermal conduction, unless protected by magnetic fields that are draped parallel to the front surfaces, suppressing conduction perpendicular to the fronts. We present MHD simulations of cold front formation in the core of a galaxy cluster with anisotropic thermal conduction, exploring a parameter space of conduction strengths parallel and perpendicular to the field lines. Including conduction has a strong effect on the temperature of the core and the cold fronts. Though magnetic field lines are draping parallel to the front surfaces, the temperature jumps across the fronts are nevertheless reduced. The field geometry is such that the cold gas below the front surfaces can be connected to hotter regions outside via field lines along directions perpendicular to the plane of the sloshing motions and along sections of the front which are not perfectly draped. This results in the heating of this gas below the front on a timescale of a Gyr, but the sharpness of the density and temperature jumps may still be preserved. By modifying the density distribution below the front, conduction may indirectly aid in suppressing Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. If conduction along the field lines is unsuppressed, we find that the characteristic sharp jumps in X-ray emission seen in observations of clusters do not form. This suggests that the presence of sharp cold fronts in hot clusters could be used to place upper limits on conduction in the {it bulk} of the ICM. Finally, the combination of sloshing and anisotropic thermal conduction can result in a larger flux of heat to the core than either process in isolation. While still not sufficient to prevent a cooling catastrophe in the very central ($r sim$ 5 kpc) regions of the cool core, it reduces significantly the mass of cool gas that accumulates outside those radii.
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