Clusters of galaxies contain a hot gas, which emits in X-rays. X-ray telescopes such as XMM-Newton allow to study this plasma to obtain information on physical quantities of these objects. We present here some results on the total mass density distribution of clusters obtained with XMM-Newton based on the hydrostatic approach. These results can be compared to models based on cold dark matter. Generally good agreement is found between observations and models. Furthermore we present a study on physical properties of a distant merging cluster of galaxies, which demonstrates the potential of XMM-Newton studies on this class of objects.
Download