English

The El Gordo galaxy cluster challenges {\Lambda}CDM for any plausible collision velocity

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2023-09-11 v2

Abstract

El Gordo (ACT-CL J0102-4915) is an extraordinarily large and bright galaxy cluster collision. In a previous study, we found that El Gordo is in 6.2σ6.2\sigma tension with the Λ\LambdaCDM standard model when assuming the nominal mass and infall velocity values from the hydrodynamical simulations of Zhang et al. (M200=3.2×1015MM_{200} = 3.2 \times 10^{15} M_{\odot} and Vinfall=2500 km s1V_{\textrm{infall}} = 2500~\textrm{km~s}^{-1}, respectively). The recent weak lensing study of Kim et al. showed that the mass of El Gordo is actually 2.130.23+0.25×1015M2.13^{+0.25}_{-0.23} \times 10^{15} M_{\odot}. Here we explore the level of tension between El Gordo and Λ\LambdaCDM for the new mass estimate, assuming several VinfallV_{\textrm{infall}} values. We find that in order to reduce the tension below the 5σ5\sigma level, the El Gordo subclusters should have Vinfall<2300 km s1V_{\textrm{infall}} < 2300~\textrm{km~s}^{-1} (Vinfall<1800 km s1V_{\textrm{infall}} < 1800~\textrm{km~s}^{-1} when considering the combined tension with the Bullet Cluster). To the best of our knowledge, the El Gordo hydrodynamical simulations conducted so far require Vinfall2500 km s1V_{\textrm{infall}} \geq 2500~\textrm{km~s}^{-1} to simultaneously reproduce its morphology and its high X-ray luminosity and temperature. We therefore conclude that El Gordo still poses a significant challenge to Λ\LambdaCDM cosmology. Whether the properties of El Gordo can be reconciled with a lower VinfallV_{\textrm{infall}} should be tested with new hydrodynamical simulations that explore different configurations of the interaction.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2308.00744,
  title  = {The El Gordo galaxy cluster challenges {\Lambda}CDM for any plausible collision velocity},
  author = {E. Asencio and I. Banik and P. Kroupa},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.00744},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

8 pages, 1 figure. Matched to version published in The Astrophysical Journal as closely as possible

R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:45:50.577Z