Morehead State University
Studying the Dynamical Disturbance in Galaxy Clusters Cores through Analysis of Chandra X-ray Observations
Institution
Morehead State University
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Thomas Pannuti
Abstract
Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound structures in the Universe. They are dark matter dominated objects, and also contain hot intracluster gas and galaxies by a much lesser amount. Optical and X-ray joint analysis allowed us to fairly determine the dynamical status of cluster cores through the study of the offset between the Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) and the X-ray peak of the hot intracluster medium (ICM). We applied this method to a complete sample of 36 galaxy clusters: the 400d Cluster Survey Cosmological Sample. This is a high redshift sample with redshifts ranging from 0.35 to 0.89, very suitable for precision cosmology studies. The BCG's location was found by the analysis of optical datasets and the X-ray peak was found by surface brightness profile analysis of observations made with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. A better knowledge of the dynamical disturbance in each cluster will allow us to understand how cluster scaling relations change with respect to the fraction of unrelaxed systems and to test Xray mass measurement assumptions.
Studying the Dynamical Disturbance in Galaxy Clusters Cores through Analysis of Chandra X-ray Observations
Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound structures in the Universe. They are dark matter dominated objects, and also contain hot intracluster gas and galaxies by a much lesser amount. Optical and X-ray joint analysis allowed us to fairly determine the dynamical status of cluster cores through the study of the offset between the Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) and the X-ray peak of the hot intracluster medium (ICM). We applied this method to a complete sample of 36 galaxy clusters: the 400d Cluster Survey Cosmological Sample. This is a high redshift sample with redshifts ranging from 0.35 to 0.89, very suitable for precision cosmology studies. The BCG's location was found by the analysis of optical datasets and the X-ray peak was found by surface brightness profile analysis of observations made with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. A better knowledge of the dynamical disturbance in each cluster will allow us to understand how cluster scaling relations change with respect to the fraction of unrelaxed systems and to test Xray mass measurement assumptions.