X Ray Observations Of Merging Galaxy Clusters

Mergers are the mechanisms by which galaxy clusters are assembled through the hierarchical growth of smaller clusters and groups. Major cluster mergers are the most energetic events in the Universe since the Big Bang. Many of the observed properties of clusters depend on the physics of the merging process. These include substructure, shock, intra cluster plasma temperature and entropy structure, mixing of heavy elements within the intra cluster medium, acceleration of high-energy particles, formation of radio halos and the effects on the galaxy radio emission. This book reviews our current understanding of cluster merging from an observational and theoretical perspective, and is appropriate for both graduate students and researchers in the field.

Context: Galaxy clusters grow hierarchically with continuous accretion bookended by major merging events that release immense gravitational potential energy (as much as ~1065 erg). This energy creates an environment for rich astrophysics. Precise measurements of the dark matter halo, intra-cluster medium, and galaxy population have resulted in a number of important results including dark matter constraints and explanations of the generation of cosmic rays. However, since the timescale of major mergers (~several Gyr) relegates observations of individual systems to mere snapshots, these results are difficult to understand under a consistent dynamical framework. While computationally expensive simulations are vital in this regard, the vastness of parameter space has necessitated simulations of idealized mergers that are unlikely to capture the full richness. Merger speeds, geometries, and timescales each have a profound consequential effect, but even these simple dynamical properties of the mergers are often poorly understood. A method to identify and constrain the best systems for probing the rich astrophysics of merging clusters is needed. Such a method could then be utilized to prioritize observational follow up and best inform proper exploration of dynamical phase space. Task: In order to identify and model a large number of systems, in this dissertation, we compile an ensemble of major mergers each containing radio relics. We then complete a pan-chromatic study of these 29 systems including wide field optical photometry, targeted optical spectroscopy of member galaxies, radio, and X-ray observations. We use the optical observations to model the galaxy substructure and estimate line of sight motion. In conjunction with the radio and X-ray data, these substructure models helped elucidate the most likely merger scenario for each system and further constrain the dynamical properties of each system. We demonstrate the power of this technique through detailed analyses of two individual merging clusters. Each are largely bimodal mergers occurring in the plane of the sky. We build on the dynamical analyses of Dawson (2013b) and Ng et al. (2015) in order to constrain the merger speeds, timescales, and geometry for these two systems, which are among a gold sample earmarked for further follow up. Findings: MACS J1149.5+2223 has a previously unidentified southern subcluster involved in a major merger with the well-studied northern subcluster. We confirm the system to be among the most massive clusters known, and we study the dynamics of the merger. MACS J1149.5+2223 appears to be a more evolved system than the Bullet Cluster observed near apocenter. ZwCl 0008.8+5215 is a less massive but a bimodal system with two radio relics and a cool-core "bullet'' analogous to the namesake of the Bullet Cluster. These two systems occupy different regions of merger phase space with the pericentric relative velocities of ~2800 km s−1 and ~1800 km s−1 for MACS J1149.5+2223 and ZwCl 0008.8+5215, respectively. The time since pericenter for the observed states are ~1.2 Gyr and ~0.8 Gyr, respectively. In the ensemble analysis, we confirm that radio relic selection is an efficient trigger for the identification of major mergers. In particular, 28 of the 29 systems exhibit galaxy substructure aligned with the radio relics and the disturbed intra-cluster medium. Radio relics are typically aligned within 20° of the axis connecting the two galaxy subclusters. Furthermore, when radio relics are aligned with substructure, the line of sight velocity difference between the two subclusters is small compared with the infall velocity. This strongly implies radio relic selection is an efficient selector of systems merging in the plane of the sky. While many of the systems are complex with several simultaneous merging subclusters, these systems generally only contain one radio relic. Systems with double radio relics uniformly suggest major mergers with two dominant substructures well aligned between the radio relics. Conclusions: Radio relics are efficient triggers for identifying major mergers occurring within the plane of the sky. This is ideal for observing offsets between galaxies and dark matter distributions as well as cluster shocks. Double radio relic systems, in particular, have the simplest geometries, which allow for accurate dynamical models and inferred astrophysics. Comparing and contrasting the dynamical models of MACS J1149.5+2223 and ZwCl 0008.8+5215 with similar studies in the literature (Dawsonm 2013b; Ng et al., 2015; vam Weeren et al., 2017), a wide range of dynamical phase space ~1500-3000 km s−1 at pericenter and ~500-1500 Myr after pericenter) may be sampled with radio relic mergers. With sufficient samples of bimodal systems, velocity dependence of underlying astrophysics may be uncovered. Perspectives: With the gold sample identified from our ensemble analysis, our photometric observations will be used to constrain the dark matter distribution with gravitational lensing (in studies analogous to Jee et al., 2015, 2016). Furthermore, as new radio surveys identify additional radio relic systems, more may be added to this gold sample. These systems are best served to test self-interacting dark matter hypotheses, but observational based models much be complimented with detailed simulations, and in order to move forward with this work, more realistic initial conditions based on observations must be utilized. Collaborators and I are actively studying existing cosmological N-body simulations in search of analogs to these systems, which may then be re-simulated at higher resolution with new physics included.

The NATO Advanced Study Institute "Cosmological Aspects of X-Ray Clus ters of Galaxies" took place in Vel en , Westphalia, Germany, from June 6 to June 18, 1993. It addressed the fruitful union of two topics, cosmology and X-ray clus ters, both of which carry substantial scientific weight at the beginning of the last decenium of the last century in the second millenium of our era. The so far largest X-ray "All-Sky Survey", observed by the ROSAT X-ray satel lite, and ROSAT's deep pointed observations, have considerably enlarged the base of X-ray astronomy, particularly concerning extragalactic sources. Cosmology has gained significant impetus from the large optical direct and spectroscopic surveys, based on high quality 2-dimensional receivers at large telescopes and powerful scan ning devices, harvesting the full information 1 content from the older technique of employing photographic plates. Radioastronomy and IR-astronomy with IRAS, as well as r-astronomy with GRO, continue and strengthen the role of extragalactic research. The rapidly growing computer power in data reduction and data storage facilities support the evolution towards large-number statistics. A most significant push was given to early cosmology by the needs of physics in trying to unravel the nature of forces which govern our material world. The topic of the ASI was chosen because it opens new vistas on this for ever new problem: the universe. Clusters of galaxies probe large-scale matter distributions and the structure of space-time.

First published in 1988, this book is a comprehensive survey of the astrophysical characteristics of the hot gas which pervades clusters of galaxies. In our universe, clusters of galaxies are the largest organised structures. Typically they comprise hundreds of galaxies moving through a region of space ten million light years in diameter. The volume between the galaxies is filled with gas having a temperature of 100 million degrees. This material is a strong source of cosmic X-rays. Dr Sarazin describes the theoretical description of the origin, dynamics, and physical state of the cluster gas. Observations by radio and optical telescopes are also summarised. This account is addressed to professional astronomers and to graduate students. It is an exhaustive summary of a rapidly expanding field of research in modern astrophysics.

The majority (~85%) of the matter in the universe is composed of dark matter, a mysterious particle that does not interact via the electromagnetic force yet does interact with all other matter via the gravitational force. Many direct detection experiments have been devoted to finding interactions of dark matter with baryonic matter via the weak force. To date only tentative and controversial evidence for such interactions has been found. While such direct detection experiments have ruled out the possibility that dark matter interacts with baryonic matter via a strong scale force, it is still possible that dark matter interacts with itself via a strong scale force and has a self-scattering cross-section of ~0.5 cm2g−1. In fact such a strong scale scattering force could resolve several outstanding astronomical mysteries: a discrepancy between the cuspy density profiles seen in [Lambda]CDM simulations and the cored density profiles observed in low surface brightness galaxies, dwarf spheroidal galaxies, and galaxy clusters, as well as the discrepancy between the significant number of massive Milky Way dwarf spheroidal halos predicted by [Lambda]CDM and the dearth of observed Milky Way dwarf spheroidal halos. Need: While such observations are in conflict with [Lambda]CDM and suggest that dark matter may self-scatter, each suffers from a baryonic degeneracy, where the observations might be explained by various baryonic processes (e.g., AGN or supernove feedback, stellar winds, etc.) rather than self-interacting dark matter (SIDM). In fact, the important scales of these observations often coincide with baryonic scales (e.g., the core size in clusters is few factors smaller than the radius of the brightest cluster galaxy). What is needed is a probe of SIDM where the expected effect cannot be replicated by the same processes responsible for the baryonic degeneracy in the aforementioned probes. Merging galaxy clusters are such a probe. During the merging process the effectively collisionless galaxies (~2% of the cluster mass) become dissociated from the collisional intracluster gas (~15% of the cluster mass). A significant fraction of the gas self-interacts during the merger and slows down at the point of collision. If dark matter lags behind the effectively collisionless galaxies then this is clear evidence that dark matter self-interacts. The expected galaxy-dark matter offset is typically >25 kpc (for cross-sections that would explain the other aforementioned issues with [Lambda]CDM), this is larger than the scales of that are plagued by the baryonic degeneracies. Task: To test whether dark matter self-interacts we have carried out a comprehensive survey of the dissociative merging galaxy cluster DLSCL J0916.2+2951 (also known as the Musket Ball Cluster). This survey includes photometric and spectroscopic observations to quantify the position and velocity of the cluster galaxies, weak gravitational lensing observations to map and weigh the mass (i.e., dark matter which comprises ~85% of the mass) of the cluster, Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and X-ray observations to map and quantify the intracluster gas, and finally radio observations to search for associated radio relics, which had they been observed would have helped constrain the properties of the merger. Using this information in conjunction with a Monte Carlo analysis model I quantify the dynamic properties of the merger, necessary to properly interpret constraints on the SIDM cross-section. I compare the locations of the galaxies, dark matter and gas to constrain the SIDM cross-section. This dissertation presents this work. Findings: We find that the Musket Ball is a merger with total mass of 4.8(+3.2)(-1.5) x 1014M(sun). However, the dynamic analysis shows that the Musket Ball is being observed 1.1(+1.3)(-0.4) Gyr after first pass through and is much further progressed in its merger process than previously identified dissociative mergers (for example it is 3.4(+3.8)(1.4) times further progressed that the Bullet Cluster). By observing that the dark matter is significantly offset from the gas we are able to place an upper limit on the dark matter cross-section of [sigma](SIDM)m−1(DM)

The mass distributions were determined of several clusters of galaxies by using X ray surface brightness data from the Einstein Observatory Imaging Proportional Counter (IPC). Determining cluster mass distributions is important for constraining the nature of the dark matter which dominates the mass of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and the Universe. Galaxy clusters are permeated with hot gas in hydrostatic equilibrium with the gravitational potentials of the clusters. Cluster mass distributions can be determined from x ray observations of cluster gas by using the equation of hydrostatic equilibrium and knowledge of the density and temperature structure of the gas. The x ray surface brightness at some distance from the cluster is the result of the volume x ray emissivity being integrated along the line of sight in the cluster. White, Raymond E., III NASA-CR-188980, NAS 1.26:188980 NAG5-1188...

An introductory course in theoretical physics is the sole prerequisite for this general but simple introduction to the fields of plasma and fusion research. 1962 edition.

This volume documents recent developments that have advanced our understanding of the heating and cooling mechanisms in galaxies and galaxy clusters. Chapters detail results from multi-wavelength observations and advances in numerical hydrodynamical simulations. An additional section covers new research findings on feedback and self-regulatory mechanisms during cosmic structure formation in general and in galaxy formation in particular.