Related papers: Direct constraints on the dark matter self-interac…
(Abridged) We compare recent results from X-ray, strong lensing, weak lensing, and optical observations with numerical simulations of the merging galaxy cluster 1E0657-56. X-ray observations reveal a bullet-like subcluster with a prominent…
We perform numerical simulations of the merging galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56 (the Bullet Cluster), including the effects of elastic dark matter scattering. In a similar manner to the stripping of gas by ram pressure, dark matter…
We constrain the physical nature of dark matter using the newly identified massive merging galaxy cluster MACSJ0025.4-1222. As was previously shown by the example of the Bullet Cluster (1E0657-56), such systems are ideal laboratories for…
Shock waves driven in the intergalactic medium during the merging of galaxy clusters have been observed in X-ray imaging and spectroscopy. Fluid motions inferred from the shock strength and morphology can be compared to the cold dark matter…
The merging galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56, known as the "bullet cluster," is one of the hottest clusters known. The X-ray emitting plasma exhibits bow-shock-like temperature and density jumps. The segregation of this plasma from the peaks of…
Deep Chandra exposures of the hot galaxy cluster 1E0657-56 have revealed that the cluster is observed shortly after the first core-passage of a massive infalling subcluster, which is preceded by a prominent bow shock with Mach number M~3.…
We analyze strongly lensed images in 8 galaxy clusters to measure their dark matter density profiles in the radial region between 10 kpc and 150 kpc, and use this to constrain the self-interaction cross section of dark matter (DM)…
Merging galaxy clusters have been touted as one of the best probes for constraining self-interacting dark matter, but few simulations exist to back up this claim. We simulate equal mass mergers of 10$^{15}$ M$_\odot$ halos, like the El…
We present a weak lensing mass reconstruction of the interacting cluster 1E0657-558 in which we detect both the main cluster and a sub-cluster. The sub-cluster is identified as a smaller cluster which has just undergone initial in-fall and…
We present X-ray and weak lensing observations of the merging cluster system 1E0657-556. Due to the recently collision of a merging subcluster with the main cluster, the X-ray plasma has been displaced from the cluster galaxies in both…
Collisions between galaxy clusters provide a test of the non-gravitational forces acting on dark matter. Dark matter's lack of deceleration in the `bullet cluster collision' constrained its self-interaction cross-section \sigma_DM/m <…
We perform a general computational analysis of possible post-collision mass distributions in high-speed galaxy cluster collisions in the presence of weakly self-interacting dark matter. Using this analysis, we show that weakly…
We present new weak lensing observations of 1E0657-558 (z=0.296), a unique cluster merger, that enable a direct detection of dark matter, independent of assumptions regarding the nature of the gravitational force law. Due to the collision…
Merging clusters of galaxies are unique in their power to directly probe and place limits on the self-interaction cross-section of dark matter. Detailed observations of several merging clusters have shown the intracluster gas to be…
We adopt the conduction fluid approximation to model the steady-state distribution of matter around a massive black hole at the center of a weakly collisional cluster of particles. By "`weakly collisional" we mean a cluster in which the…
We present high resolution N-body/SPH simulations of the interacting cluster 1E0657-56. The main and the sub-cluster are modeled using extended cuspy LCDM dark matter halos and isothermal beta-profiles for the collisional component. The hot…
We present the results of a new spectroscopic and photometric survey of the hot X-ray cluster 1E0657-56, at z=0.296. We determine the presence of a low velocity dispersion subcluster, which is offset from the main cluster position by 0.7…
We develop a statistical method to measure the interaction cross-section of Dark Matter, exploiting the continuous minor merger events in which small substructures fall into galaxy clusters. We find that by taking the ratio of the distances…
Direct evidence for the existence of dark matter and measurements of its interaction cross-section have been provided by the physical offset between dark matter and intra- cluster gas in merging systems like the Bullet Cluster. Although a…
If dark matter interacts, even weakly, via non-gravitational forces, simulations predict that it will be preferentially scattered towards the trailing edge of the halo during collisions between galaxy clusters. This will temporarily create…