Strong Magnetization Measured in the Cool Cores of Galaxy Clusters
arXiv:1208.0006 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.071302
Abstract
Tangential discontinuities, seen as X-ray edges known as cold fronts (CFs), are ubiquitous in cool-core galaxy clusters. We analyze all 17 deprojected CF thermal profiles found in the literature, including three new CFs we tentatively identify (in clusters A2204 and 2A0335). We discover small but significant thermal pressure drops below all nonmerger CFs, and argue that they arise from strong magnetic fields below and parallel to the discontinuity, carrying 10%-20% of the pressure. Such magnetization can stabilize the CFs, and explain the CF-radio minihalo connection.
PRL accepted, additional control tests added
References in corpus (14)
- Shocks and cold fronts in galaxy clusters
- The origin of cold fronts in the cores of relaxed galaxy clusters
- Measuring the non-thermal pressure in early type galaxy atmospheres: A comparison of X-ray and optical potential profiles in M87 and NGC1399
- Do radio core-halos and cold fronts in non major merging clusters originate from the same gas sloshing?
- Chandra observation of two shock fronts in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 2146
- Direct X-ray Spectral Deprojection of Galaxy Clusters
- Nonlinear Simulations of the Heat Flux Driven Buoyancy Instability and its Implications for Galaxy Clusters
- A microscopic analysis of shear acceleration
- Giant cavities, cooling and metallicity substructure in Abell 2204
- The Weak Shock in the Core of the Perseus Cluster
- Sloshing cold fronts in galaxy groups and their perturbing disk galaxies: an X-ray, Optical and Radio Case Study
- Cold fronts and multi-temperature structures in the core of Abell 2052
- Gas Sloshing and Radio Galaxy Dynamics in the Core of the 3C449 Group
- Testing hydrostatic equilibrium in galaxy cluster MS 2137
Cited by in corpus (12)
- Cold Fronts: Probes of Plasma Astrophysics in Galaxy Clusters
- Deep Chandra observation and numerical studies of the nearest cluster cold front in the sky
- Cold Fronts and Shocks Formed by Gas Streams in Galaxy Clusters
- Substructures associated with the sloshing cold front in the Perseus cluster
- Nonthermal phenomena in the center of Abell 1775: An 800 kpc head-tail, revived fossil plasma and slingshot radio halo
- Radio halos and relics from extended cosmic-ray ion distributions with strong diffusion in galaxy clusters
- Deprojecting galaxy-cluster cold fronts: evidence for bulk, magnetised spiral flows
- A Dynamically Driven, Universal Thermal Profile of Galaxy Groups and Clusters
- Advection by large-scale spiral flows in galaxy clusters
- Quasi-spiral solution to the mixed intracluster medium and the universal entropy profile of galaxy clusters
- Cold fronts in galaxy clusters I: A case for the large-scale global eigen modes in unmagnetized and weakly magnetized cluster core
- Impact of magnetic field on the gas mass fraction of galaxy clusters