AAS 197, January 2001
Session 107. Galaxy Clusters and Large Scale Structure II
Display, Thursday, January 11, 2001, 9:30-4:00pm, Exhibit Hall

[Previous] | [Session 107] | [Next]


[107.16] Effects of Preheating on X-ray Scaling Relations in Galaxy Clusters

J.J. Bialek, A.E. Evrard (University of Michigan), J.J. Mohr (Univerity of Illinois)

The failure of purely gravitational models of X-ray cluster formation to reproduce basic observed properties of the local cluster population suggests the need for one or more additional physical processes operating on the intracluster medium (ICM). We present results from 84 moderate resolution gas dynamic simulations designed to systematically investigate the effects of preheating - an initially elevated ICM adiabat - on the resultant, local X-ray size-temperature, luminosity-temperature and ICM mass-temperature relations. Seven sets of twelve simulations are performed for a \LambdaCDM cosmology, each set characterized by a different initial entropy level Si.

The slopes of the observable relations steepen monotonically as Si is increased. Observed slopes for all three relations are reproduced by models with Si \in 55-150 keV cm2, levels that compare favorably to empirical determinations of core ICM entropy by Lloyd-Davies, Ponman & Cannon. The redshift evolution for the case of a locally successful model with Si = 106 keV cm2 is presented. At temperatures T \geq 3 keV, little or no evolution in physical isophotal sizes or bolometric luminosities is expected to z \leq 1. The ICM mass at fixed T is lower at higher z as expected in the canonical evolution model. ICM mass fractions show a mild T dependence. Clusters with T \geq 3 keV contain ICM mass fractions depressed by modest amounts (\leq 25%) below the cosmic mean baryon fraction \Omegab/\Omegam; hot clusters subject to preheating remain good tracers of the cosmic mix of clustered mass components. This work was supported by NASA and NSF.


The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: jbialek@umich.edu

[Previous] | [Session 107] | [Next]