The Bullet Cluster is not a Cosmological Anomaly

Abstract

The Bullet Cluster (1E0657-56) merger is of exceptional interest for testing the standard cold-dark-matter plus cosmological constant cosmological model, and for investigating the possible existence of a long- or short-range "fifth-force" in the dark sector and possible need for modifications of general relativity or even of Newtonian gravity. The most recent previous simulations of the Bullet Cluster merger required an initial infall velocity far in excess of what would be expected within the standard cosmological model, at least in the absence of additional forces or modifications to gravity. We have carried out much more detailed simulations, making pixel-by-pixel fits to 2D data-maps of the mass distribution and X-ray emission, allowing for triaxial initial configurations and including MHD and cooling. Here, we compare the initial conditions of the Bullet Cluster merger to those in similar-mass merging clusters in the Horizon cosmological simulation. We conclude that the observed properties of the Bullet Cluster are completely consistent with Lambda-CDM.

7 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Constraints on the Self-Interaction Cross-Section of Dark Matter from Numerical Simulations of the Merging Galaxy Cluster 1E 0657-5
• The speed of the `bullet' in the merging galaxy cluster 1E0657-56
• The Observed Concentration-Mass Relation for Galaxy Clusters
• The Bullet Cluster 1E0657-558 evidence shows Modified Gravity in the absence of Dark Matter
• Simulating the Bullet Cluster
• How Rare is the Bullet Cluster?
• A New Force in the Dark Sector?
• The Cluster-Merger Shock in 1E 0657-56: Faster than the Speeding Bullet?

Cited by in corpus (3)

• MC${}^2$: Dynamical Analysis of the Merging Galaxy Cluster MACS J1149.5+2223
• How rare is the Bullet Cluster (in a $\Lambda$CDM universe)?
• Dissociation of dark matter and gas in cosmic large-scale structure