Mass-temperature relation of galaxy clusters: implications from the observed luminosity-temperature relation and X-ray temperature function

Abstract

We derive constraints on the mass-temperature relation of galaxy clusters from their observed luminosity-temperature relation and X-ray temperature function. Adopting the isothermal gas in hydrostatic equilibrium embedded in the universal density profile of dark matter halos, we compute the X-ray luminosity for clusters as a function of their hosting halo mass. We find that in order to reproduce the two observational statistics, the mass-temperature relation is very tightly constrained as T_{gas} = (1.5~2.0)keV (M_{vir}/10^{14}h_{70}^{-1}M_\odot)^{0.5~0.55}, and a simple self-similar evolution model (T_{gas} \propto M_{vir}^{2/3}) is strongly disfavored. In the cosmological model that we assume (a ΛCDM universe with Ω_0=0.3, λ_0=0.7 and h_{70}=1), the derived mass-temperature relation suggests that the mass fluctuation amplitude σ_8 is 0.7--0.8.

25 pages, 10 figures. Omission of scaling of 1/h**2 in several figures is corrected. Conclusions remain unchanged. ApJ 2003 June 10 issue, in press