Related papers: X-ray Spectroscopy of Galaxy Clusters
There is increasing evidence that some heating mechanism in addition to gravitational shock heating has been important for the hot gas inside clusters and groups of galaxies, as indicated by their observed X-ray scaling properties. While…
Formation of dark matter halos is sensitive to the expansion rate of the Universe and to the growth of structures under gravitational collapse. Virialization of halos heats the gaseous intra-cluster medium to high temperatures, leading to…
Galaxy clusters can be used as powerful cosmological probes, provided one can obtain accurate mass estimates, which requires a precise knowledge of the underlying astrophysics of galaxy clusters. For these purposes, spatially resolved…
The hot gas permeating galaxy clusters-the intracluster medium (ICM)-is a key tracer of their assembly history and internal dynamics. Understanding the motion of this gas provides critical insight into processes such as mergers, turbulence,…
The Intra-Cluster Medium (ICM) is a rarefied, hot, highly ionized, metal rich, weakly magnetized plasma. In these proceeding, after having reviewed some basic ICM properties, I discuss recent results obtained with the BeppoSAX, XMM-Newton…
In the last eight years, the Chandra and XMM-Newton satellites changed significantly our view of X-ray clusters of galaxies. In particular, several complex phenomena have been directly observed: interactions between cluster galaxies and the…
Non-thermal motions in the intra-cluster medium (ICM) are believed to play a non-negligible role in the pressure support to the total gravitating mass of galaxy clusters. Future X-ray missions, such as ASTRO-H and ATHENA, will eventually…
This Chapter provides a brief tutorial on some aspects of plasma physics that are fundamental to understanding the dynamics and energetics of the intracluster medium (ICM). The tutorial is split into two parts: one that focuses on the…
Gamma-ray astronomy will play a crucial role in the investigation of nonthermal processes in the large scale structure of the universe. Particularly, galaxy clusters (GC) observations at this photon energy will help us understand the origin…
Galaxy cluster mergers are representative of a wide range of physics, making them an excellent probe of the properties of dark matter and the ionized plasma of the intracluster medium. To date, most studies have focused on mergers occurring…
Galaxy clusters, the most massive, dark-matter-dominated, and most recently assembled structures in the Universe, are key tools for probing cosmology. However, uncertainties in scaling relations that connect cluster mass to observables like…
Clusters of galaxies at high redshift (z>1) are vitally important to understand the evolution of the large scale structure of the Universe, the processes shaping galaxy populations and the cycle of the cosmic baryons, and to constrain…
We present a systematic analysis of the intracluster medium (ICM) in an X-ray flux limited sample of 45 galaxy clusters. Using archival ROSAT PSPC data and published ICM temperatures, we present best fit double and single beta model…
The discrepancy between expected and observed cooling rates of X-ray emitting gas has led to the {\it cooling flow problem} at the cores of clusters of galaxies. A variety of models have been proposed to model the observed X-ray spectra and…
The hot intra-cluster medium (ICM) surrounding the heart of galaxy clusters is a complex medium comprised of various emitting components. Although previous studies of nearby galaxy clusters, such as the Perseus, the Coma, or the Virgo…
Temperature, density and abundance profiles of the hot intracluster medium (ICM) are important diagnostics of the complex interactions of gravitational and feedback processes in the cores of galaxy clusters. Deprojection of X-ray data by…
Most of the ordinary matter in the local Universe has not been converted into stars but resides in a largely unexplored diffuse, hot, X-ray emitting plasma. It pervades the gravitational potentials of massive galaxies, groups and clusters…
The detailed velocity structure of the diffuse X-ray emitting intra-cluster medium (ICM) remains one of the last missing key ingredients in understanding the microphysical properties of these hot baryons and constraining our models of the…
In the outskirts of galaxy clusters, entropy profiles measured from X-ray observations of the hot intracluster medium (ICM) drops off unexpectedly. One possible explanation for this effect is gas clumping, where pockets of cooler and denser…
Precision cosmology studies based on wide-field surveys of galaxy clusters benefit from constraints on intrinsic scatter in mass-observable relationships. In principle, two-parameter models combining direct measurements of galaxy cluster…