Merger-driven multi-scale ICM density perturbations: testing cosmological simulations and constraining plasma physics

arXiv (Cornell University)

Abstract

The hot intracluster medium (ICM) provides a unique laboratory to test multi-scale physics in numerical simulations and probe plasma physics. Utilizing archival Chandra observations, we measure density fluctuations in the ICM in a sample of 80 nearby (z<1) galaxy clusters and infer scale-dependent velocities within regions affected by mergers (r

Authors 6

1. Annie Heinrich

   University of Chicago

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics , University of Chicago , 5640 S Ellis Avenue , Chicago , IL 60637 , USA

2. Irina Zhuravleva

   University of Chicago

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics , University of Chicago , 5640 S Ellis Avenue , Chicago , IL 60637 , USA

3. Congyao Zhang

   University of Chicago

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics , University of Chicago , 5640 S Ellis Avenue , Chicago , IL 60637 , USA

4. E. Churazov

   Space Research Institute · Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

   Affiliation as printed

   Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics , Karl-Schwwarzschild-Strasse 1 , D-85478 Garching , Germany

   Space Research Institute (IKI) , Profsoyuznaya 84/32 , Moscow 117997 , Russia

5. W. Forman

   Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian

   Affiliation as printed

   Center for Astrophysics , Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden St. , MS-3 , Cambridge , MA 02138 , USA

6. Reinout J. van Weeren Aachen Leiden Observatory

   Leiden University · Leiden Observatory

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden Observatory , Leiden University , PO Box 9513 , 2300 RA Leiden , the Netherlands