Tuesday, February 19, 2013

1302.4140 (A. Simionescu et al.)

Thermodynamics of the Coma Cluster Outskirts    [PDF]

A. Simionescu, N. Werner, O. Urban, S. W. Allen, A. C. Fabian, A. Mantz, K. Matsushita, P. E. J. Nulsen, J. S. Sanders, T. Sasaki, T. Sato, Y. Takei, S. A. Walker
We present results from a large mosaic of Suzaku observations of the Coma Cluster, focusing on the thermodynamic properties of the ICM on large scales. The measured temperature and X-ray brightness profiles are similar along four relatively undisturbed azimuths probed, with the temperature decreasing from ~8.5 keV at the cluster center to ~2 keV at 2 Mpc. The SW merger boosts the surface brightness, allowing us to detect X-ray emission out to 2.5 Mpc along this fifth direction. The X-ray image also reveals two arc-shaped regions with excess surface brightness towards the east and west of the main cluster core. These regions appear over-pressured and most likely originate from merger induced large scale supersonic gas motions. The azimuthally averaged temperature profile, as well as the deprojected density and pressure profiles towards the E and NW, all show a sharp drop consistent with an outward propagating shock front located at the outermost edge of the giant radio halo observed at 352 MHz with the WSRT and which may be powering this radio emission. The shape of the entropy profiles along the relatively relaxed E and NW directions at large radii is consistent with the average profiles of evolved, well formed cool core clusters, suggesting similar accretion histories. Our data indicate a flat metal abundance profile at about 0.3 of the Solar value out to almost the virial radius of Coma, which would favor galactic winds over ram-pressure stripping as the dominant enrichment mechanism in the ICM.
View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1302.4140

No comments:

Post a Comment