Related papers: Shocks and Nonthermal Processes in Clusters
Clusters of galaxies are the largest self-gravitating structures in the universe. Each cluster is filled with a large-scale plasma atmosphere, in which primordial matter is mixed with matter that has been processed inside stars. This is a…
The gas in galaxy clusters is heated by shock compression through accretion (outer shocks) and mergers (inner shocks). These processes additionally produce turbulence. To analyse the relation between the thermal and turbulent energies of…
The hot intracluster plasma in clusters of galaxies is weakly magnetized. Mergers between clusters produce gas compression and motions which can increase the magnetic field strength. In this work, we perform high-resolution non-radiative…
When galaxy clusters collide, they generate shock fronts in the hot intracluster medium. Observations of these shocks can provide valuable information on the merger dynamics and physical conditions in the cluster plasma, and even help…
(Abridged) The thermal history of the intracluster medium (ICM) is complex. Heat input from cluster mergers, AGN, and galaxy winds offsets and may even halt the cooling of the ICM. Consequently, the processes that set the properties of the…
Galaxy cluster merger shocks are the main agent for the thermalization of the intracluster medium and the energization of cosmic ray particles in it. Shock propagation changes the state of the tenuous intracluster plasma, and the…
Extragalactic starbursts induced by gravitational interactions can now be studied from z = ~0 to ~2. The evidence that mergers of gas-rich galaxies tend to trigger galaxy-wide starbursts is strong, both statistically and in individual cases…
We studied the formation process of star clusters using high-resolution N-body/smoothed particle hydrodynamcs simulations of colliding galaxies. The total number of particles is 1.2x10^8 for our high resolution run. The gravitational…
We review the possible mechanisms for production of non-thermal electrons which are responsible for non-thermal radiation in clusters of galaxies. Our primary focus is on non-thermal Bremsstrahlung and inverse Compton scattering, that…
We investigate the shock acceleration of particles in massive galaxy mergers or collisions, and show that cosmic rays (CRs) can be accelerated up to the second knee energy ~0.1-1 EeV and possibly beyond, with a hard spectral index Gamma ~…
Massive galaxy clusters are filled with a hot, turbulent and magnetized intra-cluster medium. Still forming under the action of gravitational instability, they grow in mass by accretion of supersonic flows. These flows partially dissipate…
We discuss the origin of thermal and non-thermal phenomena in galaxy clusters. Specifically, we present some expectations for the non-thermal emission (from radio to gamma ray wavelenghts) expected in a model in which secondary electrons…
We perform high resolution simulations of forming star clusters as they merge inside giant molecular clouds (GMCs) using hydrodynamics coupled to N-body dynamics to simultaneously model both the gas and stars. We zoom in to previously run…
FERMI (formely GLAST) and LOFAR will shortly provide crucial information on the non-thermal components (relativistic particles and magnetic field) in galaxy clusters. After discussing observational facts that already put constraints on the…
The most important evidences for non-thermal phenomena in galaxy clusters comes from the spectacular synchrotron radio emission diffused over Mpc scale observed in a growing number of massive clusters. A promising possibility to explain…
The properties of X-ray clusters of galaxies can be well understood in terms of a competition between shock heating and adiabatic compression. Strong shocks are expected to be important for massive clusters, while adiabatic compression is…
In McCarthy et al. (2007, astro-ph/0701335) we present an analysis of entropy generation during cluster mergers, using SPH simulations. This conference proceeding contribution summarizes some of the most important findings of that paper,…
In the hierarchical structure formation model, clusters of galaxies form through a sequence of mergers and continuous mass accretion, which generate significant random gas motions especially in their outskirts where material is actively…
We propose a mechanism for the early generation of the mean Intracluster magnetic field in terms of magnetized galactic winds. These winds are the result of starburst phases of the cluster galaxies, assumed to produce the predominant…
Mergers of gas-rich galaxies lead to gravitationally driven increases in gas pressure that can trigger intense bursts of star and cluster formation. Although star formation itself is clustered, most newborn stellar aggregates are unbound…