[Previous] | [Session 5] | [Next]
A. Mahdavi (Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii)
The \emph{Chandra} satellite has shown us that the distribution of the X-ray emitting medium in clusters of galaxies is seldom regular and homogeneous. Nevertheless, azimuthally averaged models of clusters remain both popular and useful in describing the gross properties of the medium. These models often rely on an underlying dark matter potential with either a constant density core (the "\beta-model") or a cuspy core derived from N-body simulations (the NFW profile). As a replacement for these I will suggest a generalized potential with a single adjustable parameter sensitive to the slope of the matter density. This approach allows rough constraints on the shape of the dark matter potential even in situations where temperature resolution is sparse.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: amahdavi@ifa.hawaii.edu
[Previous] | [Session 5] | [Next]
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.