X-ray Diagnostics of Thermal Conditions of the Hot Plasmas in the Centaurus Cluster

Abstract

X-ray data of the Centaurus cluster, obtained with {\it XMM-Newton} for 45 ksec, were analyzed. Deprojected EPIC spectra from concentric thin shell regions were reproduced equally well by a single-phase plasma emission model, or by a two-phase model developed by {\it ASCA}, both incorporating cool (1.7--2.0 keV) and hot ($\sim 4$ keV) plasma temperatures. However, EPIC spectra with higher statistics, accumulated over 3-dimentional thick shell regions, were reproduced better by the two-phase model than by the singe-phase one. Therefore, hot and cool plasma phases are inferred to co-exist in the cluster core region within $\sim 70$ kpc. The iron and silicon abundances of the plasma were reconfirmed to increase significantly towards the center, while that of oxygen was consistent with being radially constant. The implied non-solar abundance ratios explains away the previously reported excess X-ray absorption from the central region. Although an additional cool ($\sim 0.7$ keV) emission was detected within $\sim 20$ kpc of the center, the RGS data gave tight upper limits on any emission with a tempeartures below $\sim 0.5$ keV. These results are compiled into a magnetosphere model, which interprets the cool phase as confined within closed magnetic loops anchored to the cD galaxy. When combined with so-called Rosner-Tucker-Vaiana mechanism which applies to solar coronae, this model can potentially explain basic properties of the cool phase, including its temperature and thermal stability.

arXiv comment53 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal

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• X-ray exploration of the outskirts of the nearby Centaurus cluster using Suzaku and Chandra
• High Resolution XMM-Newton Spectroscopy of the Cooling Flow Cluster A3112
• Temperature Structure in the Perseus Cluster Core Observed with Hitomi
• Suzaku Observations of Metal Distributions in the Intracluster Medium of the Centaurus Cluster
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• The velocity structure of the Intracluster Medium of the Centaurus cluster
• Chemical enrichment in the cool core of the Centaurus cluster of galaxies
• Dynamics of ten clusters of galaxies with substructures
• Gravitational and distributed heating effects of a cD galaxy on the hydrodynamical structure of its host cluster
• Implications of the mild gas motion found with Hitomi in the core of the Perseus cluster