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B.R. McNamara (Ohio University)
Images of cooling flow clusters taken with the Chandra X-ray Observatory show that the keV gas is cooling at rates much less than those found from earlier missions. In addition, the Chandra imaging shows that cluster cores are remarkably complex, and that powerful radio sources strongly influence the structure of the intracluster medium. In some instances, the radio sources are displacing the keV gas leaving large cavities often, but not always, filled with bright radio emission. The cavities rise buoyantly in the intracluster medium carrying with them substantial amounts of energy and magnetic field. In some clusters, the optically-estimated star formation rates and X-ray cooling rates are now within factors of several of each other. Radio sources may reduce or quench some cooling flows.
This research is generously funded by NASA.