Engineering topics

Sarazin, Craig L.

Publications and source records attributed to Sarazin, Craig L..

41 records · Page 3

NASA NTRS1987

Narrow-angle tail radio sources and the distribution of galaxy orbits in Abell clusters

The present data on the orientations of the tails with respect to the cluster centers of a sample of 70 narrow-angle-tail (NAT) radio sources in Abell clusters show the distribution of tail angles to be inconsistent with purely radial or circular orbits in all the samples, while being consistent with isotropic orbits in (1) the whole sample, (2) the sample of NATs far from the cluster center, and (3) the samples of morphologically regular Abell clusters. Evidence for very radial orbits is found, however, in the sample of NATs near the cluster center. If these results can be generalized to all cluster galaxies, then the presence of radial orbits near the center of Abell clusters suggests that violent relaxation may not have been fully effective even within the cores of the regular clusters.

O'Dea, Christopher P.↗

NASA NTRS1987

X-ray halos in galaxies and clusters of galaxies - Theory

X-ray measurements provide an excellent method to determine the amount and distribution of the dark matter in clusters. Unfortunately, accurate temperature profiles, necessary to this method, are currently not available. However, if the intracluster gas is assumed to have a monotonically decreasing temperature, one finds that the dark matter is strongly concentrated to the cluster center, and has a mass which only exceeds the known baryonic mass by a factor of about three. On a second topic, cooling flows are shown to be a very common feature of cluster central and normal elliptical galaxies. The cooling gas is probably ultimately converted into low mass stars.

Sarazin, Craig L.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Mass distributions in elliptical galaxies at large radii

Recently, X-ray observations have shown that elliptical galaxies generally contain large quantities of hot gas. Central dominant cluster ellipticals have even more gas, which they have accreted from the surrounding clusters. The mass distributions in these galaxies can be derived from the condition of hydrostatic equilibrium. M87, the best studied central dominant galaxy, has a massive, dark halo with a total mass of about 4 x 10 to the 12th solar masses within a radius of 300 kpc. The total mass-to-light ratio within this radius is at least 150 solar mass/solar luminosity. The X-ray observations of normal ellipticals also strongly suggest that they have heavy halos, although the distribution of the mass is much less certain than in M87.

Sarazin, Craig L.↗

NASA NTRS1986

X-ray observations of clusters - Physical implications

The X-ray properties of clusters of galaxies and elliptical galaxies are reviewed, with an emphasis on cooling flows and their effects on the structure and energetics of radio sources. It is found that the radial profiles of the hot (10 to the 8th K) diffuse (n = about 0.001/cu cm) gas in clusters do not require heating of the intracluster medium after the formation of the cluster. Consideration is given to theoretical formulas for cooling rates, the possible reasons for the observed correlation between cooling flows and the presence of a dominant central galaxy, cooling-flow models of elliptical galaxies, and the significant shear in the velocity field of a cooling flow.

Sarazin, Craig L.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Narrow-angle tail radio sources and evidence for radial orbits in Abell clusters

Published observational data on the tail orientations (TOs) of 60 narrow-angle-tail (NAT) radio sources in Abell clusters of galaxies are analyzed statistically using a maximum-likelihood approach. The results are presented in a table, and it is found that the observed TO distributions in the whole sample and in subsamples of morphologically regular NATs and NATs with pericentric distances d greater than 500 kpc are consistent with isotropic orbits, whereas the TOs for NATs with d less than 500 kpc are consistent with highly radial orbits. If radial orbits were observed near the centers of other types of cluster galaxies as well, it could be inferred that violent relaxation during cluster formation was incomplete, and that clusters form by spherical collapse and secondary infall, as proposed by Gunn (1977).

O'Dea, Christopher P.↗