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M. E. Donahue, G. M. Voit, K. Cavagnolo (MSU)
We will present and discuss Chandra observations of nearby cluster cooling flows that do not have significant radio sources or optical emission-line nebulae . By identifying a small sample of clusters with central cooling times that are shorter than the Hubble time, and which do not have current sources of AGN or stellar heating, we hope to isolate the effect of current heating sources on the X-ray structure of clusters of galaxies. Abell 1650 and Abell 2244 have short central cooling times but little or no radio or optical line emission in their cores. They are similar in that they show very little temperature gradient throughout the core, but distinctive double-beta surface brightness profiles and high central densities. They both exhibit evidence for soft-X-ray emission in their innermost regions, and iron abundances that increase to the center. We shall demonstrate that their entropy profiles are distinctly flatter, with higher core entropy than that exhibited by the more typical cooling flows with radio galaxies and emission-lines. We will discuss how the morphologies of the clusters gives evidence for a recent merger and limits on former radio activity. Are these clusters in an evolutionary state before a catastrophic cooling event? Or are they still settling into convective equilibrium after a major interaction?
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.