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D. A. Smith, A. S. Wilson (University of Maryland), K.A. Arnaud (NASA/GSFC), Y. Terashima, A. J. Young (University of Maryland), P. L. Shopbell (Caltech)
The results from a recent \emph{Chandra} ACIS-S observation of the Cygnus A galaxy cluster are presented. We confirm a drop in the temperature of the X-ray emitting gas from 8 keV some 4\prime from the center to 5 keV in the center, with the coolest gas immediately adjacent to the radio galaxy. The radio lobes appear as cavities in the X-ray image, and are devoid of X-ray emitting gas. We detect X-ray emission from the radio jet for the first time. Finally, the \emph{Chandra} data provide evidence for a metallicity gradient in the X-ray emitting gas, with the highest metallicities (~~solar) found close to the center decreasing to ~0.3 solar in the outer parts. We have deprojected the X-ray spectra taken from various elliptical shells in order to derive the run of temperature and density as a function of radius. We shall present these results in the context of theoretical models describing the interaction between the radio galaxy and intracluster medium.
This reserch made use of funding through NASA grant NAG-81027.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: dasmith@astro.umd.edu