Spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy of cooling clusters of galaxies
By J. Kaastra, T. Tamura, J. R. Peterson, J. Bleeker, C. Ferrigno, S. Kahn, F. Paerels, R. Piffaretti, G. Branduardi‐Raymont, H. Böhringer. 2003
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We present spatially resolved X-ray spectra taken with the EPIC cameras of XMM-Newton of a sample of 17 cooling clusters and three non-cooling clusters for comparison. The deprojected spectra are analyzed with a multi-temperature model, independent of any a priori assumptions about the physics behind the cooling and heating mechanisms. All cooling clusters show a central decrement of the average temperature, most of them of a factor of ∼2. Three clusters (Sersic 159−3, MKW 3s and Hydra A) only show a weak temperature decrement, while two others (A 399 and A 2052) have a very strong temperature decrement. All cooling clusters show a weak pressure gradient in the core. More important, at each radius within the cooling region the gas is not isothermal. The differential emission measure distribution shows a strong peak near the maximum (ambient) temperature, with a steep decline towards lower temperatures, approximately proportional to T 3 , or alternatively a cut-off at about a quarter to half of the maximum temperature. In general, we find a poor correlation between radio flux of the central galaxy and the temperature decrement of the cooling flow. This is interpreted as evidence that except for a few cases (like the Hydra A cluster) heating by a central AGN is not the most common cause of weak cooling flows. We investigate the role of heat conduction by electrons and find that the theoretically predicted conductivity rates are not high enough to balance radiation losses. The differential emission measure distribution has remarkable similarities with the predictions from coronal magnetic loop models. Also the physical processes involved (radiative cooling, thermal conduction along the loops, gravity) are similar for clusters loops and coronal loops. If coronal loop models apply to clusters, we find that a few hundred loops per scale height should be present. The typical loop sizes deduced from the observed emission measure distribution are consistent with the characteristic magnetic field sizes deduced from Faraday rotation measurements.
Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3ebddd067904e0c2d890beb6bbf9b038042fa387
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In Astronomy and Astrophysics
Citations in the corpus
- A Catalog of Galaxy Clusters Observed by XMM-Newton (2007, unknown): “However flatter, more isothermal profiles have also been found in both Chandra and XMMNewton observations (Allen, Schmidt, & Fabian 2001; Kaastra et al. 2004; Arnaud, Pointecouteau, & Pratt 2005).”
- STIRRING UP THE POT: CAN COOLING FLOWS IN GALAXY CLUSTERS BE QUENCHED BY GAS SLOSHING? (2009, background): “Within r ∼ 100 kpc of the cluster center, the ICM temperature declines sharply toward the center (e.g., Fukazawa et al. 1994; Kaastra et al. 2004), while the gas density increases.”
- Temperature profiles of a representative sample of nearby X-ray galaxy clusters (2006, background): “However, other Chandra and XMM-Newton observations have found flatter profiles (Allen et al. 2001; Kaastra et al. 2004; Arnaud et al. 2005).”
- INTRACLUSTER MEDIUM ENTROPY PROFILES FOR A CHANDRA ARCHIVAL SAMPLE OF GALAXY CLUSTERS (2009, methodology): “The entropy profiles presented in Piffaretti et al. (2005) were derived using the PSF-corrected, deprojected spectral analysis presented in Kaastra et al. (2004).”
- The Cluster-Scale AGN Outburst in Hydra A (2004, background): “Despite this, little of the gas cools below∼ 1 keV (e.g. Peterson et al. 2001; Tamura et al. 2001; Peterson et al. 2003; Kaastra et al. 2004).”
- X-ray spectroscopy of galaxy clusters: studying astrophysical processes in the largest celestial laboratories (2009, methodology): “…with theXMM-Newton RGS instrument, have now also been used to characterize the multi-temperature structure in cool cores in more detail in terms of the emission measure (or luminosity) distribution of the plasma as a function of temperature (e.g. Peterson et al. 2003; Kaastra et al. 2004).”
- X-ray Spectroscopy of Cooling Clusters (2005, methodology): “Voigt et al. (2002) (see also Kaastra et al. 2004 and Voigt & Fabian 2004) used the density and temperature profiles to deduce the heat transfer rate within the gas and thus the effective conductivity κeff required.”