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NASA NTRS2021

Search for Lensing Signatures in the Gravitational-Wave Observations from the First Half of LIGO–Virgo's Third Observing Run

We search for signatures of gravitational lensing in the gravitational-wave signals from compact binary coalescences detected by Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and Advanced Virgo during O3a, the first half of their third observing run. We study: (1) the expected rate of lensing at current detector sensitivity and the implications of a non-observation of strong lensing or a stochastic gravitational-wave background on the merger-rate density at high redshift; (2) how the interpretation of individual high-mass events would change if they were found to be lensed; (3) the possibility of multiple images due to strong lensing by galaxies or galaxy clusters; and (4) possible wave-optics effects due to point-mass microlenses. Several pairs of signals in the multiple-image analysis show similar parameters and, in this sense, are nominally consistent with the strong lensing hypothesis. However, taking into account population priors, selection effects, and the prior odds against lensing, these events do not provide sufficient evidence for lensing. Overall, we find no compelling evidence for lensing in the observed gravitational-wave signals from any of these analyses.

R. Abbott↗
NASA NTRS2022

Constraints on Axions from Cosmic Distance Measurements

Axion couplings to photons could induce photon-axion conversion in the presence of magnetic fields in the Universe. This conversion could impact various cosmic distance measurements, such as luminosity distances to type Ia supernovae and angular distances to galaxy clusters, in different ways. In this paper we consider different combinations of the most up-to-date distance measurements to constrain the axion-photon coupling. Employing the conservative cell magnetic field model for the magnetic fields in the intergalactic medium (IGM) and ignoring the conversion in the intracluster medium (ICM), we find the upper bounds on axion-photon couplings to be around 5 × 10^(−12) (nG/B) √(Mpc/s) Ge/V for axion masses m(a) below 10^(−13) eV, where B is the strength of the IGM magnetic field, and s is the comoving size of the magnetic domains. When including the conversion in the ICM, the upper bound is lowered and could reach 5 × 10^(−13) Ge/V for m(a) < 5 × 10^(−12) eV. While this stronger bound depends on the ICM modeling, it is independent of the strength of the IGM magnetic field, for which there is no direct evidence yet. These constraints could be placed on firmer footing with an enhanced understanding and control of the astrophysical uncertainties associated with the IGM and ICM. All the bounds are determined by the shape of the Hubble rate as a function of redshift reconstructable from various distance measurements, and insensitive to today’s Hubble rate, of which there is a tension between early and late cosmological measurements. As an appendix, we discuss the model building challenges of the use of photon-axion conversion to make type Ia supernovae brighter to alleviate the Hubble problem/crisis.

Cosmology of Theories beyond the SM↗
NASA NTRS1980

The detection of extended X-ray emission surrounding cD galaxies in poor clusters

The paper presents some preliminary results of a survey, performed with an imaging proportional counter, to detect X-ray emission from poor clusters which nevertheless contain dominant D or cD galaxies and could, therefore, be classified as Bautz-Morgan Type I. The data suggest that poor clusters can collect enough gas to become detectable X-ray sources if they are relatively compact, which the presence of dominant galaxies indicates.

Kriss, G. A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Clumped X-ray emission around radio galaxies in Abell clusters

We have made a comparison of the X-ray and radio morphologies for a sample of 41 rich cluster fields using Einstein Observatory Imaging Proportional Counter (IPC) and Very Large Array (VLA) 20 cm images. Surprisingly, we find that 75% of the radio galaxies have a statistically significant X-ray peak or subclump within 5 min of the radio galaxy position. The X-ray luminosity and the generally extended nature of the X-ray subclumps suggest that these subclumps are overdense regions emitting free-free radiation, although there is also evidence for Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) X-ray emission coming from some of the more compact, high surface brightness X-ray peaks. Some interesting correlations with radio morphology were also discovered. For clusters which contain wide-angle-tailed radio sources associated with centrally dominant galaxies, there are significant elongations or clumps in the central X-ray emission which are unusual for this type of cluster. We suggest that cluster radio galaxies are pointers to particular clusters or regions within clusters that have recently undergone mergers between cluster subsystems.

Burns, Jack O.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Superclustering in the explosion scenario. II - Prolate spheroidal shells from superconducting cosmic strings

If galaxies form on shells, then clusters of galaxies should form at the vertices where three shells intersect. Weinberg, Ostriker, and Dekel (WOD, 1989) studied this picture quantitatively and found that an intersecting spherical shell model reproduces many of the properties of the observed distribution of galaxy clusters, but that too much superclustering is produced. In this paper, the WOD analysis is repeated with prolate spheroids that could be created by superconducting cosmic strings. It is found that most of the attractive features of the WOD model are maintained in the more general case and there is slight improvement in some aspects, but that the overall problem of excessive superclustering is not really alleviated.

Borden, David↗
NASA NTRS1993

X ray archeology in the Coma cluster

Images of X-ray emission from hot gas within the Coma cluster of galaxies are presented. These maps, made with the Rosat satellite, have high signal to noise ratio and allow cluster structure to be analyzed in unprecedented detail. They show greater structural irregularity than could be anticipated from earlier observations of Coma. Emission is detected from a number of bright cluster galaxies in addition to the two known previously. In four cases there is evidence that these galaxies lie at the center of an extended subconcentration within the cluster, possibly the remnant of their associated groups. For at least two galaxies the images show direct evidence for ongoing disruption of their gaseous atmosphere. The luminosity associated with these galaxies is comparable to that detected around similar ellipticals in much poorer environments. Emission is easily detected and appears to become more regular at large radii. The data show that this archetype of a rich and regular galaxy cluster was formed by the merging of several distinct subunits which are not yet fully destroyed.

White, Simon D. M.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The motions of clusters and group of galaxies

The distributions of peculiar velocities of rich clusters and of groups of galaxies are investigated for different cosmological models and are compared with observations. Four cosmological models are studied: standard cold dark matter (CDM) (omega = 1); low-density CDM (omega = 0.3); hot dark matter (HDM) (omega = 1); and primeval baryonic isocurvature (PBI) (omega = 0.3). All models are normalized to the microwave background fluctuations observed by Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). We find that rich clusters of galaxies exhibit a Maxwellian distribution of peculiar velocities in all models, as expected from a Gaussian initial density field. The clusters appear to be fundamental and efficient tracers of the large-scale velocity field. The cluster three-dimensional velocity distribution typically peaks at v approximately 600 km/s and extends to high cluster velocities of v approximately 2000 km/s. The low-density CDM model exhibits somewhat lower velocities: it peaks at approximately 400 km/s and extends to approximately 1200 km/s. Approximately 10% (approximately 1% for low-density CDM) of all model rich clusters move with high peculiar velocities of V greater than or = 10(exp 3) km/s. The highest velocity clusters frequently originate in dense superclusters. The model velocity distributions of rich clusters are compared with the model velocity distributions of small groups of galaxies, and of the total matter. The group velocity distribution is, in general, similar to the velocity distribution of the rich clusters. The matter velocity distribution is similar to that of the rich clusters for the omega = 0.3 models; these models exhibit Maxwellian velocity distributions for clusters, for groups, and for matter that are all similar to one another. The mass distribution in the omega = 1 models, however, exhibits a longer tail of high velocities than do the clusters. This high-velocity tail originates mostly from the high velocities that exist within rich clusters. The model velocity distributions of groups and clusters of galaxies are compared with observations. The data exhibit a larger high-velocity tail, to v(sub r) greater than or = 2000 km/s, than is seen in the model simulations (except for HDM). Because of the large observational uncertainties, however, the data are consistent at a approximately 1-3 sigma level with the model predictions and with a Gaussian initial density field. Accurate observations of cluster peculiar velocities, especially at the high-velocity tail, shoud provide powerful constraints on the cosmological models.

Bahcall, Neta A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

The IMACS Cluster Building Survey. I. Description of the Survey and Analysis Methods

The IMACS Cluster Building Survey uses the wide field spectroscopic capabilities of the IMACS spectrograph on the 6.5 m Baade Telescope to survey the large-scale environment surrounding rich intermediate-redshift clusters of galaxies. The goal is to understand the processes which may be transforming star-forming field galaxies into quiescent cluster members as groups and individual galaxies fall into the cluster from the surrounding supercluster. This first paper describes the survey: the data taking and reduction methods. We provide new calibrations of star formation rates (SFRs) derived from optical and infrared spectroscopy and photometry. We demonstrate that there is a tight relation between the observed SFR per unit B luminosity, and the ratio of the extinctions of the stellar continuum and the optical emission lines.With this, we can obtain accurate extinction-corrected colors of galaxies. Using these colors as well as other spectral measures, we determine new criteria for the existence of ongoing and recent starbursts in galaxies.

IMACS↗
NASA NTRS1979

X-ray observations of galaxies in the Virgo cluster

X-ray emission from individual galaxies (other than M87) in the Virgo cluster has been detected using observations from the Einstein X-ray Observatory. One of the galaxies, M86, exhibits extended emission which is interpreted as thermal bremsstrahlung from hot gas being stripped from the galaxy by the ram pressure of the intracluster medium. The observations are discussed in relation to models for the dynamical evolution of clusters of galaxies.

Forman, W.↗
NASA NTRS1997

The Universe at Moderate Redshift

The report covers the work done in the past year and a wide range of fields including properties of clusters of galaxies; topological properties of galaxy distributions in terms of galaxy types; patterns of gravitational nonlinear clustering process; development of a ray tracing algorithm to study the gravitational lensing phenomenon by galaxies, clusters and large-scale structure, one of whose applications being the effects of weak gravitational lensing by large-scale structure on the determination of q(0); the origin of magnetic fields on the galactic and cluster scales; the topological properties of Ly(alpha) clouds the Ly(alpha) optical depth distribution; clustering properties of Ly(alpha) clouds; and a determination (lower bound) of Omega(b) based on the observed Ly(alpha) forest flux distribution. In the coming year, we plan to continue the investigation of Ly(alpha) clouds using larger dynamic range (about a factor of two) and better simulations (with more input physics included) than what we have now. We will study the properties of galaxies on 1 - 100h(sup -1) Mpc scales using our state-of-the-art large scale galaxy formation simulations of various cosmological models, which will have a resolution about a factor of 5 (in each dimension) better than our current, best simulations. We will plan to study the properties of X-ray clusters using unprecedented, very high dynamic range (20,000) simulations which will enable us to resolve the cores of clusters while keeping the simulation volume sufficiently large to ensure a statistically fair sample of the objects of interest. The details of the last year's works are now described.

Cen, Renyue↗
NASA NTRS2009

Testing the Reliability of Cluster Mass Indicators with a Systematics Limited Dataset

We present the mass X-ray observable scaling relationships for clusters of galaxies using the XMM-Newton cluster catalog of Snowden et al. Our results are roughly consistent with previous observational and theoretical work, with one major exception. We find 2-3 times the scatter around the best fit mass scaling relationships as expected from cluster simulations or seen in other observational studies. We suggest that this is a consequence of using hydrostatic mass, as opposed to virial mass, and is due to the explicit dependence of the hydrostatic mass on the gradients of the temperature and gas density profiles. We find a larger range of slope in the cluster temperature profiles at radii 500 than previous observational studies. Additionally, we find only a weak dependence of the gas mass fraction on cluster mass, consistent with a constant. Our average gas mass fraction results also argue for a closer study of the systematic errors due to instrumental calibration and modeling method variations between analyses. We suggest that a more careful study of the differences between various observational results and with cluster simulations is needed to understand sources of bias and scatter in cosmological studies of galaxy clusters.

Juett, Adrienne M.↗
NASA NTRS1983

The environment of D and cD galaxies

The Dressler (1980) morphological sample of galaxies in clusters is used in an investigation of bright galaxy spatial distribution, which has established that such galaxies with luminous extended halos as the D or cD lie on significant cluster galaxy distribution peaks irrespective of whether they are the brightest cluster member. The mean distance of bright D and cD galaxies from local density peaks is of the order of their halo scales, and the positions of bright galaxies of other morphological types are consistent with their being drawn at random from each morphological population. It is noted that local density peaks with associated d ocD galaxies have a mean density 2-3 times greater than peaks without a D or cD.

Beers, T. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

The peculiar velocities of rich clusters in the hot and cold dark matter scenarios

We present the results of a study of the peculiar velocities of rich clusters of galaxies. The peculiar motion of rich clusters in various cosmological scenarios is of interest for a number of reasons. Observationally, one can measure the peculiar motion of clusters to greater distances than galaxies because cluster peculiar motions can be determined to greater accuracy. One can also test the slope of distance indicator relations using clusters to see if galaxy properties vary with environment. We have used N-body simulations to measure the amplitude and rms cluster peculiar velocity as a function of bias parameter in the hot and cold dark matter scenarios. In addition to measuring the mean and rms peculiar velocity of clusters in the two models, we determined whether the peculiar velocity vector of a given cluster is well aligned with the gravity vector due to all the particles in the simulation and the gravity vector due to the particles present only in the clusters. We have investigated the peculiar velocities of rich clusters of galaxies in the cold dark matter and hot dark matter galaxy formation scenarios. We have derived peculiar velocities and associated errors for the scenarios using four values of the bias parameter ranging from b = 1 to b = 2.5. The growth of the mean peculiar velocity with scale factor has been determined and compared to that predicted by linear theory. In addition, we have compared the orientation of force and velocity in these simulations to see if a program such as that proposed by Bertschinger and Dekel (1989) for elliptical galaxy peculiar motions can be applied to clusters. The method they describe enables one to recover the density field from large scale redshift distance samples. The method makes it possible to do this when only radial velocities are known by assuming that the velocity field is curl free. Our analysis suggests that this program if applied to clusters is only realizable for models with a low value of the bias parameter, i.e., models in which the peculiar velocities of clusters are large enough that the errors do not render the analysis impracticable.

Rhee, George F.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Multicolor photometry of x ray selected Abell clusters

Strong evidence of evolution in cluster of galaxies at relatively low redshift has been indicated by recent x-ray studies. We are conducting a comprehensive optical study of a sample of Abell clusters that are strong x-ray emitters in order to test the x-ray evolution scenarios that have been proposed. The initial observations consist of three-color (B, R, I) imaging of low-redshift (0.025 less than z less than 0.25) Abell clusters using the T2KA CCD on the 0.9m telescope at KPNO the large field (23 ft. x 23 ft., approx. 1 Mpc at z = 0.025 and approx. 7 Mpc at z = 0.25) gives the unprecedented ability to sample most of the extent of the field of low-redshift clusters using a CCD. Given the advantages of CCDs over photographic plates, we expect to improve on many of the previous studies. A list of x-ray selected cluster of galaxies provides a homogeneous sample of true clusters that cannot be mistaken from apparent over-densities due to projection effects of field galaxies. Some optical indicators of cluster evolution are the population of ratios of cluster galaxies and their spatial distribution, a regular spiral-poor cluster is expected to be more evolved than an irregular spiral-rich cluster. Also regular spiral-poor clusters present high central concentrations while irregular spiral-rich are less concentrated. Variations in the Luminosity Function (LF) can indicate evolution. But in order to build reliable LFs it is necessary to determine the Hubble types of the cluster galaxies. In the past the classifications of cluster galaxies have been done by visual inspection on photographic material, this technique is very limited and can lead to errors when the galaxies are faint. The Hubble types of cluster galaxies can be determined in an objective manner by comparing colors and profiles from surface photometry. To show that this approach is feasible, I have presented preliminary results from the photometric analysis of the Abell-cluster A1213. Colors and profiles of the surface brightness distribution were compared to determine the Hubble types of the cluster galaxies.

Lopez-Cruz, Omar↗
NASA NTRS1991

The small-scale clustering properties of dwarf galaxies

Two results on the small-scale clustering properties of dwarf galaxies are reported, which were identified in the vicinity of early-type Shapley-Ames galaxies on high-resolution photographic plates. The first result indicates that dwarf galaxies display the same trend of stronger clustering toward earlier morphological type on small scales as their giant counterparts on larger scales. It is suggested that early-type dwarfs can be used as dynamical probes of dark halos around early-type giant galaxies and as tracers of the dynamical evolution of such halos in dense environments. The second result pertains to the trend of increasing early-type dwarf frequency per early-type giant with environment richness previously established for rich groups. It is found that a minimum value of isolated early-type galaxies is approximately 0.25, as compared to a maximum of approximately 8 in rich environments like the Virgo Cluster.

Vader, J. P.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Two-dimensional spectrophotometry of the cores of X-ray luminous clusters

The results of a two-dimensional spectrophotometric survey of the core regions of 11 rich clusters of galaxies are presented. A number of these clusters have spectacular optical emission line systems in their cores. Both morphologically and kinematically, the emission line regions divide into extended, 20-100 kpc systems of long linear filaments associated with the cluster core and more compact, homogeneous elongated regions associated with the dominant central cluster galaxy. It is suggested that the present results can be expected, as hot X-ray emitting gas cools in the cluster center. Luminosities almost entirely agree with expected values. The morphology of the systems can be understood if the filaments form initially in the cooling flow and, in some cases, are subsequently accreted by the central galaxy.

Hu, E. M.↗
NASA NTRS1988

IRAS observations of galaxies in the Virgo cluster area

IRAS data on 196 galaxies in the area of the Virgo Cluster are presented. The data derive from combining all available survey observations for each object and therefore achieve greater sensitivity than the IRAS Point Source Catalog (PSC). The enhanced sensitivity allows 78 galaxies to be detected at 12 microns, 82 at 25 microns, 139 at 60 microns, and 135 at 100 microns, compared to 16, 23, 88, and 95 detections listed in the PSC. From the blue compact dwarf galaxy sample, 23 and 19 objects are detected at 60 and 100 microns, compared to three and two detections listed in the PSC. The emission in three close pairs of galaxies which are reported as single sources in the PSC are separated here. These statistics demonstrate the importance and potential of a detailed examination of IRAS data, especially for possibly resolved sources and, in particular, for galaxies out to redshifts of 0.008 or galaxies with D(25) of 3 arcmin or greater.

Helou, George↗