English

Characterizing cluster morphology using vector-valued Minkowski functionals

Astrophysics 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

The morphology of galaxy clusters is quantified using Minkowski functionals, especially the vector-valued ones, which contain directional information and are related to curvature centroids. The asymmetry of clusters and the amount of their substructure can be characterized in a unique way using these measures. -- We briefly introduce vector-valued Minkowski functionals (also known as Querma\ss vectors) and suggest their application to cluster data in terms of a morphological characterization of excursion sets. Furthermore, we develop robust structure functions which describe the dynamical state of a cluster and study the evolution of clusters using numerical simulations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9711034,
  title  = {Characterizing cluster morphology using vector-valued Minkowski functionals},
  author = {Claus Beisbart and Thomas Buchert},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9711034},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

LaTeX2e 2 pages with 8 figures; uses sprocl.sty, to appear in 12th Potsdam cosmology workshop