Related papers: Electron-Ion Equilibration in the Merging Galaxy C…
Recently, high-resolution Chandra observations revealed the existence of very sharp features in the X-ray surface brightness and temperature maps of several clusters (Vikhlinin et. al., 2001). These features, called ``cold fronts'', are…
We use stripped-down versions of three semi-analytic galaxy formation models to study the influence of different assumptions about gas cooling and galaxy mergers. By running the three models on identical sets of merger trees extracted from…
The cluster of galaxies Abell 2146 is undergoing a major merger and is an ideal cluster to study ICM physics, as it has a simple geometry with the merger axis in the plane of the sky, its distance allows us to resolve features across the…
We present an analysis of high-quality X-ray data out to the virial radius for the two galaxy clusters Abell 1246 and GMBCG J255.34805+64.23661 (J255) by means of our entropy-based SuperModel. For Abell 1246 we find that the…
We have developed a numerical model for the temporal evolution of particle and photon spectra resulting from nonthermal processes at the shock fronts formed in merging clusters of galaxies. Fermi acceleration is approximated by injecting…
Does overall thermal equilibrium exist between ions and electrons in a weakly collisional, magnetised, turbulent plasma---and, if not, how is thermal energy partitioned between ions and electrons? This is a fundamental question in plasma…
We analyze heating and cooling processes in an idealized simulation of a cool-core cluster, where momentum-driven AGN feedback balances radiative cooling in a time-averaged sense. We find that, on average, energy dissipation via shock waves…
Massive galaxy clusters are the most violent large scale structures undergoing merger events in the Universe. Based upon their morphological properties in X-rays, they are classified as un-relaxed and relaxed clusters and often host (a…
Observations of clusters and groups imply that such halos are roughly in global thermal equilibrium, with heating balancing cooling when averaged over sufficiently long time- and length-scales; the ICM is, however, very likely to be locally…
The characterization of the Intra-Cluster Medium (ICM) properties of high-redshift galaxy clusters is fundamental to our understanding of large-scale structure formation processes. We present the results of a multi-wavelength analysis of…
The use of galaxy clusters as cosmological probes often relies on understanding the properties and evolution of the intracluster medium (ICM). However, the ICM is a complex plasma, regularly stirred by mergers and feedback, with…
The cluster of galaxies A754 undergoes a merger of several large structural units. X-ray observations show a nonequilibrium state of the central part of the cluster, in which a cloud of cold plasma 500 kpc in size was identified amid the…
We studied the prominent bow shock in the merging galaxy cluster A520 using a deep Chandra X-ray observation and archival VLA radio data. This shock is a useful diagnostic tool, owing to its clear geometry and relatively high Mach number.…
The hot, X-ray-emitting intracluster medium (ICM) is the dominant baryonic constituent of clusters of galaxies. In the cores of many clusters, radiative energy losses from the ICM occur on timescales significantly shorter than the age of…
Collisional plasma shocks generated from supersonic flows are an important feature in many astrophysical and laboratory high-energy-density plasmas. Compared to single-ion-species plasma shocks, plasma shock fronts with multiple ion species…
The origin of cool-core (CC) and non-cool-core (NCC) dichotomy of galaxy clusters remains uncertain. Previous simulations have found that cluster mergers are effective in destroying CCs but fail to prevent overcooling in cluster cores when…
The conversion of gravitational potential to kinetic energy results in an intracluster medium (ICM) gas with a characteristic temperature near 10 keV in the most massive galaxy clusters. X-ray observations, primarily from Chandra and…
[Abridged] Since 1971 observations in X rays of thousands galaxy clusters have uncovered huge amounts of hot baryons filling up the deep gravitational potential wells provided by dark matter (DM) halos with sizes of millions light-years and…
The physics of the coolest phases in the hot Intra-Cluster Medium (ICM) of clusters of galaxies is yet to be fully unveiled. X-ray cavities blown by the central Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) contain enough energy to heat the surrounding gas…
The crisis of the standard cooling flow model brought about by Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of galaxy clusters, has led to the development of several models which explore different heating processes in order to assess if they can…