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[13.03] CHANDRA X-ray Observations and Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect Measurements of Abell 1995

S. K. Patel (UAH/MSFC), M. Joy (NASA/MSFC), J. Carlstrom (U.Chicago), J. P. Hughes (Rutgers U.)

We present our analysis of the 45 ksec Chandra x-ray observation of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 1995 at z=0.32. The Chandra data were obtained with the back-illuminated ACIS-S3 detector, yielding spatially resolved x-ray spectroscopy of the intracluster medium (ICM). We model the spatial structure of the ICM with a spherical isothermal \beta model and report the results of a maximum-likelihood fit, and apply a Raymond-Smith thermal model to determine the plasma temperature. When combined with previous measurements of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect, these x-ray observations significantly reduce the systematic uncertainties in determining the cluster gas mass, total mass, and distance.