The influence of magnetic fields on the Sunyaev Zel'dovich effect in clusters of galaxies

Abstract

We study the influence of intracluster large scale magnetic fields on the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect. In a macroscopic approach we complete the hydrostatic equilibrium equation with the magnetic field pressure component. Comparing the resulting mass distribution with a standard one, we derive a new electron density profile. For a spherically symmetric cluster model, this new profile can be written as the product of a standard ($\beta$-) profile and a radius dependent function, close to unity, which takes into account the magnetic field strength. For non-cooling flow clusters we find that the observed magnetic field values can reduce the SZ signal by $\sim 10$ with respect to the value estimated from X-ray observations and the $\beta$-model. If a cluster harbours a cooling flow, magnetic fields tend to weaken the cooling flow influence on the SZ-effect.

Accepted for publication in New Astronomy

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Cited by in corpus (9)

• Astrophysics with the Spatially and Spectrally Resolved Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effects: A Millimetre/Submillimetre Probe of the Warm and Hot Universe
• A fast and accurate method for computing the Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal of hot galaxy clusters
• Secondary anisotropies of the CMB
• On the influence of non-thermal pressure on the mass determination of galaxy clusters
• Multiple scattering Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal I: lowest order effect
• Magnetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in galaxy clusters
• The effect of cluster magnetic field on the Sunyaev Zeldovich power spectrum
• Magnetic fields and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in galaxy clusters
• Impact of magnetic field on the gas mass fraction of galaxy clusters