The properties of magnetised cold filaments in a cool-core galaxy cluster

Abstract

Filaments of cold gas ($T\le 10^4$ K) are found in the inner regions of many cool-core clusters. These structures are thought to play a major role in the regulation of feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN). We study the morphology of the filaments, their formation, and their impact on the propagation of the outflowing AGN jets. We present a set of GPU-accelerated 3D (magneto)hydrodynamical simulations of an idealized Perseus-like cluster using the performance portable code AthenaPK. We include radiative cooling, and a self-regulated AGN feedback model that redistributes accreted material through kinetic, thermal and magnetic feedback. We confirm that magnetic fields play an important role in both the formation and evolution of the cold material. These suppress the formation of massive cold discs and favour magnetically supported filaments over clumpy structures. Achieving resolutions of $25-50$ pc, we find that filaments are not monolithic as they contain numerous and complex magnetically supported sub-structures. We find that the mass distribution of these clumps follows a $\mathrm{d}N/\mathrm{d}M\propto M^{-1.6}$ power-law for all investigated filaments. Studying the evolution of individual filaments, we find that their formation pathways can be diverse. We find examples of filaments forming through a combination of gas uplifting and condensation, as well as systems of purely infalling clumps condensing out of the intracluster medium. The density contrast between the cold gas and the outflowing hot material leads to recurring deflections of the jets, favouring inflation of bubbles.

20 pages, 21 figures, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, with corrections detailed in an accompanying erratum

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• H$\alpha$-X-ray Surface Brightness Correlation for Filaments in Cooling Flow Clusters
• On the impact of AGN feedback modes onto the turbulent properties of the multiphase ICM
• XMAGNET: Velocity structure functions of active galactic nucleus-driven turbulence in the multiphase intracluster medium
• CRexit: how different cosmic ray transport modes affect thermal instability in the circumgalactic medium
• The abundance and origin of cool gas in galaxy clusters in the TNG-Cluster simulation