In Search of Killer Clusters: Cosmological Implications of the 1E0657-56, the Hottest Known Galaxy Cluster

Session 37 - X-ray Clusters: Implications for Cosmology.
Display session, Tuesday, June 09
Atlas Ballroom,

[37.01] In Search of Killer Clusters: Cosmological Implications of the 1E0657-56, the Hottest Known Galaxy Cluster

W. H. Tucker, L. P. David, U. Pen (CfA)

The temperature of the galaxy cluster 1E0657-56 has been measured to be kT = 17.4 keV, which makes it the hottest known galaxy cluster. Very hot clusters are important for testing cosmological models because differences between models are strongly amplified at temperatures greater than 15 keV. We show that the expected number of clusters kT>17 keV in a volume bounded by a redshift z = 0.3 is N(kT>17, z <0.3) = 0.3 for Ømega = 0.37 and N(kT>17, z <0.3) = 4 \times 10^-6 for Ømega = 1 for a cold dark matter (CDM) spectrum normalized to fit the cluster number density at 5.5 keV. The properties of other potential "killer clusters" and their impact on a broad range of cosmological models are discussed, and a strategy to search for them with AXAF is outlined.

Program listing for Tuesday