Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “clusters”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 361 records · Page 20

X-ray-imaging observations of clusters of galaxies

Einstein X-ray imaging observations, made to illustrate the variety of phenomena that can be considered through X-ray image analysis, are presented. Attention is given to general cluster properties and intracluster gas. Individual clusters are discussed (considering classification and dynamical evolution), and X-ray images are used to determine cluster mass distribution and to examine distant clusters. X-ray observations have contributed information in regard to processes affecting galaxies, the intracluster medium, and the cluster itself. Analyses have traced massive halos around dominant galaxies in unevolved clusters, and have helped define the cluster gravitational potential. In addition, multi-component double clusters have been discovered, and material which has been ram-pressure stripped from a hot corona around the M86 galaxy in Virgo was observed. Finally, quantitative estimates of the fractions of young and evolved clusters and determinations of total cluster mass are possible using X-ray observations.

Forman, W.↗

The optical structure of X-ray globular clusters

CTIO 4-m prime-focus plates of eight globular clusters containing bright X-ray sources have been obtained. Plates in several colors (principally U and B) of each cluster have been digitized. A maximum symmetry method for determining the center of a globular cluster image is described and applied to each cluster in order to determine the cluster center with an accuracy of above 1.0 arc sec. Surface brightness profiles have been derived for seven clusters and fitted with King (1966, 1980) models to yield core radii within about 10 percent. These determinations of the cluster centers and core radii are sufficiently accurate to allow Grindlay et al. (1984) to statistically measure the mass of the globular cluster X-ray sources. Two clusters (NGC 6624 and M15) show significant excesses of light in their cores over the best-fit King model, in agreement with the results of Djorgovski and King (1984). The significance of these excesses, as well as the lack of any dependence of globular cluster structural parameters on color, is discussed.

Hertz, P.↗

Cluster analysis of multiple planetary flow regimes

A modified cluster analysis method was developed to identify spatial patterns of planetary flow regimes, and to study transitions between them. This method was applied first to a simple deterministic model and second to Northern Hemisphere (NH) 500 mb data. The dynamical model is governed by the fully-nonlinear, equivalent-barotropic vorticity equation on the sphere. Clusters of point in the model's phase space are associated with either a few persistent or with many transient events. Two stationary clusters have patterns similar to unstable stationary model solutions, zonal, or blocked. Transient clusters of wave trains serve as way stations between the stationary ones. For the NH data, cluster analysis was performed in the subspace of the first seven empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs). Stationary clusters are found in the low-frequency band of more than 10 days, and transient clusters in the bandpass frequency window between 2.5 and 6 days. In the low-frequency band three pairs of clusters determine, respectively, EOFs 1, 2, and 3. They exhibit well-known regional features, such as blocking, the Pacific/North American (PNA) pattern and wave trains. Both model and low-pass data show strong bimodality. Clusters in the bandpass window show wave-train patterns in the two jet exit regions. They are related, as in the model, to transitions between stationary clusters.

Mo, Kingtse↗

Images in the rocket ultraviolet - UV fluxes of M31 globular clusters

Images obtained by a rocket-borne UV imaging telescope are used here to determine near-UV fluxes for 17 sources in M31 that are optical globular-cluster candidates and for the bright open cluster vdB0 in M31. Far-UV fluxes or flux limits are determined for the same clusters. The m(NUV)-V colors for M31 clusters are similar to those of Galactic clusters, except for the high-metallicity M31 cluster Bo 171. Four of the detected clusters have optical, m(NUV) - V, and m(FUV) - V colors indicating ages of about 100 million years. These four clusters are probably similar to the so-called 'blue globular' clusters of the LMC. The existence of young LMC-type blue globulars and the possible existence of middle-aged metal-rich globulars may indicate that M31 has continued to form globular clusters throughout its life.

Bohlin, Ralph C.↗

Deep, wide-field, multi-band imaging of z approximately equal to 0.4 clusters and their environs

The existence of an excess population of blue galaxies in the cores of distant, rich clusters of galaxies, commonly referred to as the 'Butcher-Oemler' effect is now well established. Spectroscopy of clusters at z = 0.2-0.4 has confirmed that the luminous blue populations comprise as much as 20 percent of these clusters. This fraction is much higher that the 2 percent blue fraction found for nearby rich clusters, such as Coma, indicating that rapid galaxy evolution has occurred on a relatively short time scale. Spectroscopy has also shown that the 'blue' galaxies can basically be divided into three classes: 'starburst' galaxies with large (O II) equivalent widths, 'post-starburst' E+A galaxies (i.e. galaxies with strong Balmer lines shortward of 4000A but elliptical-like colors, and normal spiral/irregulars. Unfortunately, it is difficult to obtain enough spectra of individual galaxies in these intermediate redshift clusters to say anything statistically meaningful. Thus, limited information is available about the relative numbers of these three classes of 'blue' galaxies and the associated E/SO population in these intermediate redshift clusters. More statistically meaningful results can be derived from deep imaging of these clusters. However, the best published data to date (e.g. MacLaren et al. 1988; Dressler & Gunn 1992) are limited to the cluster cores and do not sample the galaxy luminosity functions very deeply at the bluest wavelengths. Furthermore, only limited spectro-energy distribution data is available below 4000A in the observed cluster rest frame providing limited sensitivity to 'recent' star formation activity. To improve this situation, we are currently obtaining deep, wide-field UBRI images of all known rich clusters at z approx. equals 0.4. Our main objective is to obtain the necessary color information to distinguish between the E+SO, 'E+A', and spiral/irregular galaxy populations throughout the cluster/supercluster complex. At this redshift, UBRI correspond to rest-frame 2500A/UVR bandpasses. The rest-frame UVR system provides a powerful 'blue' galaxy discriminate given the expected color distribution. Moreover, since 'hot' stars peak near 2500A, that bandpass is a powerful probe of recent star formation activity in all classes of galaxies. In particular, it is sensitive to ellipticals with 'UV excess' populations (MacLaren et al. 1988).

Silva, David R.↗

Can cluster environment modify the dynamical evolution of spiral galaxies?

Over the past decade many effects of the cluster environment on member galaxies have been established. These effects are manifest in the amount and distribution of gas in cluster spirals, the luminosity and light distributions within galaxies, and the segregation of morphological types. All these effects could indicate a specific dynamical evolution for galaxies in clusters. Nevertheless, a more direct evidence, such as a different mass distribution for spiral galaxies in clusters and in the field, is not yet clearly established. Indeed, Rubin, Whitmore, and Ford (1988) and Whitmore, Forbes, and Rubin (1988) (referred to as RWF) presented evidence that inner cluster spirals have falling rotation curves, unlike those of outer cluster spirals or the great majority of field spirals. If falling rotation curves exist in centers of clusters, as argued by RWF, it would suggest that dark matter halos were absent from cluster spirals, either because the halos had become stripped by interactions with other galaxies or with an intracluster medium, or because the halos had never formed in the first place. Even if they didn't disagree with RWF, other researchers pointed out that the behaviour of the slope of the rotation curves of spiral galaxies (in Virgo) is not so clear. Amram, using a different sample of spiral galaxies in clusters, found only 10% of declining rotation curves (2 declining vs 17 flat or rising) in opposition to RWF who find about 40% of declining rotation curves in their sample (6 declining vs 10 flat or rising), we will hereafter briefly discuss the Amram data paper and compare it to the results of RWF. We have measured the rotation curves for a sample of 21 spiral galaxies in 5 nearby clusters. These rotation curves have been constructed from detailed two-dimensional maps of each galaxy's velocity field as traced by emission from the Ha line. This complete mapping, combined with the sensitivity of our CFHT 3.60 m. + Perot-Fabry + CCD observations, allows the construction of high-quality rotation curves. Details concerning the acquisition and reduction procedures of the data are given in Amram. We present and discuss our preliminary analysis and compare them with RWF's results.

Amram, P.↗

Radial distribution of metallicity in the LMC cluster systems

New determinations of the deprojected distances to the galaxy center for 94 star clusters and their metal abundances are used to investigate the variation of metallicity across the two LMC star cluster systems (Kontizas et al. 1990). A systematic radial trend of metallicity is observed in the extended outer cluster system, the outermost clusters being significantly metal poorer than the more central ones, with the exception of six clusters (which might lie out of the plane of the cluster system) out of 77. A radial metallicity gradient has been found, qualitatively comparable to that of the Milky Way for its system of the old disk clusters. If the six clusters are taken into consideration then the outer cluster system is well mixed up to 8 kpc. The spatial distribution of metallicities for the inner LMC cluster system, consisting of very young globulars does not show a systematic radial trend; they are all metal rich.

Kontizas, M.↗

A search for X-ray bright distant clusters of galaxies

We present the results of a search for X-ray luminous distant clusters of galaxies. We found extended X-ray emission characteristic of a cluster toward two of our candidate clusters of galaxies. They both have a luminosity in the ROSAT bandpass of approximately equals 10(exp 44) ergs/s and a redshift greater than 0.5; thus making them two of the most distant X-ray clusters ever observed. Furthermore, we show that both clusters are optically rich and have a known radio source associated with them. We compare our result with other recent searches for distant X-ray luminous clusters and present a lower limit of 1.2 x 10(exp -7)/cu Mpc for the number density of such high-redshift clusters. This limit is consistent with the expected abundance of such clusters in a standard (b = 2) cold dark matter universe. Finally, our clusters provide important high-redshift targets for further study into the origin and evolution of massive clusters of galaxies.

Nichol, R. C.↗

Internal velocity and mass distributions in simulated clusters of galaxies for a variety of cosmogonic models

The mass and velocity distributions in the outskirts (0.5-3.0/h Mpc) of simulated clusters of galaxies are examined for a suite of cosmogonic models (two Omega(sub 0) = 1 and two Omega(sub 0) = 0.2 models) utilizing large-scale particle-mesh (PM) simulations. Through a series of model computations, designed to isolate the different effects, we find that both Omega(sub 0) and P(sub k) (lambda less than or = 16/h Mpc) are important to the mass distributions in clusters of galaxies. There is a correlation between power, P(sub k), and density profiles of massive clusters; more power tends to point to the direction of a stronger correlation between alpha and M(r less than 1.5/h Mpc); i.e., massive clusters being relatively extended and small mass clusters being relatively concentrated. A lower Omega(sub 0) universe tends to produce relatively concentrated massive clusters and relatively extended small mass clusters compared to their counterparts in a higher Omega(sub 0) model with the same power. Models with little (initial) small-scale power, such as the hot dark matter (HDM) model, produce more extended mass distributions than the isothermal distribution for most of the mass clusters. But the cold dark matter (CDM) models show mass distributions of most of the clusters more concentrated than the isothermal distribution. X-ray and gravitational lensing observations are beginning providing useful information on the mass distribution in and around clusters; some interesting constraints on Omega(sub 0) and/or the (initial) power of the density fluctuations on scales lambda less than or = 16/h Mpc (where linear extrapolation is invalid) can be obtained when larger observational data sets, such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, become available.

Cen, Renyue↗

1919+479: Big WAT in a poor cluster

New x-ray, optical, and redshift data are presented for the cluster of galaxies associated with the giant, 1 Mpc diameter, wide-angle tailed (WAT) radio galaxy 1919+479. The ROSAT Position-Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) pointed observation shows an x-ray peak on the WAT and elongated diffuse emission tracing the galaxy distribution. In addition, an asymmetric extension of emission exists between the tails of the WAT. The fitting of a Raymond-Smith thermal model to the x-ray spectra suggests an approximately = 2 keV temperature intracluster medium (ICM). The cooling time and irregular morphology rule out a cluster-wide cooling flow. The x-ray luminosity and temperature are consistent with the velocity dispersion, 480 km/s, estimated from 31 galaxy velocities. However, this velocity distribution is significantly non-Gaussian, which along with the x-ray morphology, suggests incomplete virialization in the cluster. Substructure analysis does not reveal significant clumping in the velocities/positions; but, the spatial distribution of galaxies is very elongated. Also, the cD galaxy producing the WAT does not have a significant radial peculiar velocity with respect to the cluster centroid. These characteristics are consistent with a merger scenario in which a subcluster has crossed the cluster core in the plane of the sky and has dispersed. We compare this cluster with the post-merger cluster Abell 2634 (Pinkney et al., 1993), containing the prototype WAT, and with a recent N-Body/Hydro simulation of merging clusters. The similarities indicate that the cluster 1919+479 may be the poor extreme of a class of clusters in which the bulk motion in the ICM, caused by a subcluster merger, in shaping the central WAT.

Pinkney, Jason↗

Competition of supermassive black holes and galactic spheroids in the destruction of globular clusters

The globular clusters that we observe in galaxies may be only a fraction of the initial population. Among the evolutionary influences on the population is the destruction of globular clusters by tidal forces as the cluster moves through the field of influence of a disk, a bulge, and/or a putative nuclear component (black hole). We have conducted a series of N-body simulations of globular clusters on bound and marginally bound orbits through poetentials that include black hole and speroidal components. The degree of concentration of the spheroidal component can have a considerable impact on the extent to which a globular cluster is disrupted. If half the mass of a 10(exp 10) solar mass spheroid is concentrated within 800 pc, then only black holes with masses greater than 10(exp 9) solar mass can have a significant tidal influence over that already exerted by the bulge. However, if the matter in the spheroidal component is not so strongly concentrated toward the center of the galaxy, a more modest central black hole (down to 10(exp 8) solar mass) could have a dominant influence on the globular cluster distribution, particularly if many of the clusters were initially on highly radial orbits. Our simulations show that the stars that are stripped from a globular cluster follow orbits with roughly the same eccentricity as the initial cluster orbit, spreading out along the orbit like a 'string of pearls.' Since only clusters on close to radial orbits will suffer substantial disruption, the population of stripped stars will be on orbits of high eccentricity.

Charlton, Jane C.↗

X-Ray Emission from a Simulated Cluster of Galaxies

Using the 1993 cluster simulation of Katz & White, we analyze the intracluster medium and investigate the accuracy of the standard hydrostatic method for determining cluster masses. We show that the simulated cluster gas is in hydrostatic equilibrium with a subsonic flow toward the center. Inside a radius of (approx.) 100 kpc, this flow is in a steady state. The cooling time is shorter than a Hubble time within the central 50 kpc. The flow rate is regulated by the gas sink in the middle of the cluster and the PdV work done as the gas flows in, verifying the standard cooling flow scenario. We simulate observations of the cluster using the instrument parameters of the EXOSAT ME detector and the Einstein IPC detector. Even though the intracluster gas is not isothermal, isothermal models of the cluster, excluding regions within 100 kpc of galaxies, fit the EXOSAT X-ray spectra as well as they fit real clusters. The X- ray surface brightness distribution is similar to that of real clusters, again excluding the galaxies. We simulate the procedure used to determine the masses of real clusters. We use the equation of hydrostatic equilibrium together with the temperature derived from an isothermal fit to the simulated EXOSAT spectrum and the density profile derived from a fit to the simulated IPC surface brightness profile to determine the mass. A comparison of the derived mass profile to the actual mass profile shows that errors of a factor of 2 are possible. If the actual temperature profile is used, the cluster mass is found to an accuracy of better than 25% within the virial radius.

Tsai, John C.↗

Galaxy Cluster Shapes and Systematic Errors in the Hubble Constant as Determined by the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect

Imaging of the Sunyaev-Zei'dovich (S-Z) effect in galaxy clusters combined with the cluster plasma x-ray diagnostics can measure the cosmic distance scale to high accuracy. However, projecting the inverse-Compton scattering and x-ray emission along the cluster line-of-sight will introduce systematic errors in the Hubble constant, H$-O$, because the true shape of the cluster is not known. This effect remains present for clusters that are otherwise chosen to avoid complications for the S-Z and x-ray analysis, such as plasma temperature variations, cluster substructure, or cluster dynamical evolution. In this paper we present a study of the systematic errors in the value of H$-0$, as determined by the x-ray and S-Z properties of a theoretical sample of triaxial isothermal 'beta-model' clusters, caused by projection effects and observer orientation relative to the model clusters' principal axes. The model clusters are not generated as ellipsoids of rotation, but have three independent 'core radii', as well as a random orientation to the plane of the sky.

Sulkanen, Martin E.↗

Spectroscopy of the Perseus Cluster

We present preliminary results of a XMM-Newton 50 ks observation of the Perseus Cluster that provides an unprecedented view of the central 0.5 Mpc region. The projected gas temperature declines smoothly by a factor of 2 from a maximum value of approx. 7 keV in the outer regions to just above 3 keV at the cluster center. Over this same range, the heavy-element abundance rises slowly from 0.4 to 0.5 solar as the radius decreases from 14 ft. to 5 ft., and then it rises to a peak of almost 0.7 solar at 1&farcm;25 before declining to 0.4 at the center. Th global east-west asymmetry of the gas temperature and surface brightness distributions, approximately aligned with the chain of bright galaxies, suggests an ongoing merger, although the modest degree of the observed asymmetry certainly excludes a major merger interpretation. The chain of galaxies probably traces the filament along which accretion started some time ago and is continuing at the present time. A cold and dense (low-entropy) cluster core like Perseus is probably well "protected" against the penetration of the gas of infalling groups and poor clusters, whereas in non-cooling core clusters such as Coma and A1367, infalling subclusters can penetrate deeply into the core region. In Perseus, gas associated with infalling groups may be stripped completely at the outskirts of the main cluster and only compression waves (shocks) may reach the central regions. We argue, and show supporting simulations, that the passage of such a wave(s) can qualitatively explain the overall horseshoe shaped appearance of the gas temperature map (the hot horseshoe surrounds the colder, low-entropy core) as well as other features of the Perseus Cluster core. These simulations also show that as compression waves traverse the cluster core, they can induce oscillatory motion of the cluster gas that can generate multiple sharp "edges" on opposite sides of the central galaxy. Gas motions induced by mergers may be a natural way to explain the high frequency of "edges" seen in clusters with cooling cores.

Jones, Christine↗

Measuring the Mass Distribution in Z is Approximately 0.2 Cluster Lenses with XMM, HST and CFHT

Being the most massive gravitationally bound objects in the Universe, clusters of galaxies are prime targets for studies of structure formation and evolution. Specifically the comoving space density of virialized clusters of a given mass (or X-ray temperature), but also the frequency and degree of substructure, as well as the shape of the cluster mass profile are quantities whose current values and evolution as a function of lookback time can provide important constraints on the cosmological and physical parameters of structure formation theories. The project funded by NASA grant NAG 5-10041 intended to take such studies to a new level by combining observations of a well-selected cluster sample by three state-of-the-art telescopes: HST, to accurately measure the mass distribution in the cluster core (approx. 0.5 h(sup -1)(sub 50) Mpc) via strong gravitational lensing; CFHT, to measure the large scale mass distribution out to approx. 3 Mpc via weak lensing; and XMM, to measure the gas density and temperature distribution accurately on intermediate scales < 1.5 Mpc. XMM plays a pivotal role in this context as the calibration of X-ray mass measurements through accurate, spatially resolved X-ray temperature measurements (particularly in the cosmologically most sensitive range of kT> 5 keV) is central to the questions outlined above. This set of observations promised to yield the best cluster mass measurements obtained so far for a representative sample, thus allowing us to: 1) Measure the high-mass end of the local cluster mass function; 2) Test predictions of a universal cluster mass profile; 3) calibrate the mass-temperature and temperature-luminosity relations for clusters and the scatter around these relations, which is vital for studies of cluster evolution using the X-ray temperature and X-ray luminosity functions.

Source record↗

A New Measurement of the Bulk Flow of X-Ray Luminous Clusters of Galaxies

We present new measurements of the large-scale bulk flows of galaxy clusters based on five-year WMAP data and a significantly expanded X-ray cluster catalog. Our method probes the flow via measurements of the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect produced by the hot gas in moving clusters. It computes the dipole in the cosmic microwave background data at cluster pixels, which preserves the SZ component while integrating down other contributions. Our improved catalog of over 1000 clusters enables us to further investigate possible systematic effects and, thanks to a higher median cluster redshift, allows us to measure the bulk flow to larger scales. We present a corrected error treatment and demonstrate that the more X-ray luminous clusters, while fewer in number, have much larger optical depth, resulting in a higher dipole and thus a more accurate flow measurement. This results in the observed correlation of the dipole derived at the aperture of zero monopole with the monopole measured over the cluster central regions. This correlation is expected if the dipole is produced by the SZ effect and cannot be caused by unidentified systematics (or primary cosmic microwave background anisotropies). We measure that the flow is consistent with approximately constant velocity out to at least [similar, equals]800 Mpc. The significance of the measured signal peaks around 500 h -1 70 Mpc, most likely because the contribution from more distant clusters becomes progressively more diluted by the WMAP beam. However, at present, we cannot rule out that these more distant clusters simply contribute less to the overall motion.

Kashlinsky, A.↗

Galaxy Clusters Selected via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect in 5 year data from the SPT-3G Main Survey

We report a new galaxy cluster catalog, selected using the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect, from 5 years of observations of the SPT-3G Main field. Drawn from arcminute-resolution data with white noise levels of 3.2, 2.5, and 8.9 $μ$K-arcmin at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, respectively, the sample consists of 8,892 cluster candidates detected above significance $ξ=4$, with an expected purity of $>82\%$ (4,480 at $ξ\ge5$ with purity $>99\%$). Using optical and infrared data we have confirmed 7,190 candidates as clusters. The sample spans a mass range $7.9 \times 10^{13}M_\odot/h_{70}< M_\textrm{500c} < 1.6 \times 10^{15}M_\odot/h_{70}$ with a median mass of $1.65 \times 10^{14}M_\odot/h_{70}$, and a redshift range of $0.0371$ and 271 at $z>1.5$. Compared to previous SZ cluster samples from South Pole Telescope and Atacama Cosmology Telescope data, the SPT-3G sample is highly consistent in mass and redshift but is significantly deeper, with per-cluster detection signal-to-noise 2-4 times higher and a cluster density of 4.5 confirmed clusters/deg$^2$. We cross match with eRASS1 cluster and point source catalogs, finding 1,279 and 1,319 matches, respectively. The SPT and eROSITA cluster mass estimates are in relatively good agreement. We perform a series of validation checks using both internal data splits and comparisons to external samples. These tests show increasing correlated (dusty) emission with redshift, with a $\sim17\times$ larger 220 GHz temperature increment for clusters at $z\sim1.5$ than $z\sim0.25$, but only weak evidence for correlated synchrotron emission. Finally, a number of clusters are flagged as candidate strong gravitational lenses.

Bleem, L. E. [Argonne (main); Chicago U., KICP; Ch↗

The cosmic web around the Coma cluster from constrained cosmological simulations

Galaxy clusters in the Universe occupy the important position of nodes of the cosmic web. They are connected among them by filaments, elongated structures composed of dark matter, galaxies, and gas. The connection of galaxy clusters to filaments is important, as it is related to the process of matter accretion onto the former. For this reason, investigating the connections to the cosmic web of massive clusters, especially well-known ones for which a lot of information is available, is a hot topic in astrophysics. In a previous work, we performed an analysis of the filament connections of the Coma cluster of galaxies, as detected from the observed galaxy distribution. In this work we resort to a numerical simulation whose initial conditions are constrained to reproduce the local Universe, including the region of the Coma cluster to interpret our observations in an evolutionary context. We detect the filaments connected to the simulated Coma cluster and perform an accurate comparison with the cosmic web configuration we detect in observations. We perform an analysis of the halos’ spatial and velocity distributions close to the filaments in the cluster outskirts. We conclude that, although not significantly larger than the average, the flux of accreting matter on the simulated Coma cluster is significantly more collimated close to the filaments with respect to the general isotropic accretion flux. This paper is the first example of such a result and the first installment in a series of publications which will explore the build-up of the Coma cluster system in connection to the filaments of the cosmic web as a function of redshift.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗