Hydrodynamical simulations of cluster formation with central AGN heating

We analyse a hydrodynamical simulation model for the recurrent heating of the central intra-cluster medium (ICM) by active galactic nuclei (AGN). Besides the self-gravity of the dark matter and gas components, our approach includes the radiative cooling and photoheating of the gas, as well as a subresolution multiphase model for star formation and supernova feedback. Additionally, we incorporate a periodic heating mechanism in the form of hot, buoyant bubbles, injected into the intragalactic medium (IGM) during the active phases of the accreting central AGN. We use simulations of isolated cluster haloes of different masses to study the bubble dynamics and heat transport into the IGM. We also apply our model to self-consistent cosmological simulations of the formation of galaxy clusters with a range of masses. Our numerical schemes explore a variety of different assumptions for the spatial configuration of AGN-driven bubbles, for their duty cycles and for the energy injection mechanism, in order to obtain better constraints on the underlying physical picture. We argue that AGN heating can substantially affect the properties of both the stellar and gaseous components of clusters of galaxies. Most importantly, it alters the properties of the central dominant (cD) galaxy by reducing the mass deposition rate of freshly cooled gas out of the ICM, thereby offering an energetically plausible solution to the cooling-flow problem. At the same time, this leads to reduced or eliminated star formation in the central cD galaxy, giving it red stellar colours as observed.     

Observable consequences of kinetic and thermal AGN feedback in elliptical galaxies and galaxy clusters

We have constructed an analytical model of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback and studied its implications for elliptical galaxies and galaxy clusters. The results show that momentum injection above a critical value will eject material from low-mass elliptical galaxies, and leads to an X-ray luminosity, L _X, that is  ∝σ⁸⁻¹⁰  , depending on the AGN fuelling mechanism, where σ is the velocity dispersion of the hot gas. This result agrees well with both observations and semi-analytic models. In more massive ellipticals and clusters, AGN outflows quickly become buoyancy dominated. This necessarily means that heating by a central cluster AGN redistributes the intracluster medium (ICM) such that the mass of hot gas, within the cooling radius, should be  ∝ L _X(< r _cool)/[ g ( r _cool)σ]  , where   g ( r _cool)  is the gravitational acceleration at the cooling radius. This prediction is confirmed using observations of seven clusters. The same mechanism also defines a critical ICM cooling time of  ∼0.5 Gyr  , which is in reasonable agreement with recent observations showing that star formation and AGN activity are triggered below a universal cooling time threshold.     

On viscosity, conduction and sound waves in the intracluster medium

Recent X-ray and optical observations of the Perseus cluster indicate that a combination of weak shocks at small radii  (≳20  kpc)  and viscous and conductive dissipation of sound waves at larger radii is responsible for heating the intracluster medium and can balance radiative cooling of cluster cores. We discuss this mechanism more generally and show how the specific heating and cooling rates vary with temperature and radius. It appears that this heating mechanism is most effective above  10⁷  K  , which allows for radiative cooling to proceed within normal galaxy formation but stifles the growth of very massive galaxies. The scaling of the wavelength of sound waves with cluster temperature and feedback in the system are investigated.     

Numerical simulations of rotating cooling flows in galaxy cluster environments

We have used 2D numerical simulations to study the evolution of galaxy cluster cooling flows undergoing a rotational perturbation. We show that such rotations in the intracluster medium may arise from cluster/subcluster mergers. Our galaxy cluster initial conditions involve spherically symmetric, steady-state cooling flows with varying mass-dropout strengths. The rotational perturbation serves to break the symmetry for each of the initial cooling flows, resulting in the formation of thin, gaseous disc-like structure extending radially out to ∼10 kpc. Disc-like structure formed for low mass-dropout strength simulations appears to contain cooling condensations whereas disc-like structure in higher mass-dropout strength simulations appears smooth. This is due to the influence of mass-dropout on the degree of cooling, which serves to reduce the strength of thermal instabilities by the removal of 'cold' gas from the flow. Morphological comparisons of the disc-like structure formed in our simulations are made to structure observed in the X-ray emitting gas of A4059. Comparisons of the gas dynamics within the disc-like structure are also made to the solid-body rotation profile observed from emission-line gas within the central galaxy of Hydra A. The influence of grid effects on the simulations is also discussed.     

Evidence for recent star formation in BCGs: a correspondence between blue cores and UV excess

We present a joint analysis of near-ultraviolet ( NUV ) data from the GALEX ( Galaxy Evolution Explorer ) mission and (optical) colour profiles for a sample of seven brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in the Canadian Cluster Comparison Project. We find that every BCG, which has a blue rest-frame UV colour, also shows a blue core in its optical colour profile. Conversely, BCGs that lack blue cores and show monotonic colour gradients typical of old elliptical galaxies are red in the UV. We interpret this as evidence that the NUV enhancement in the blue BCGs is driven by recent star formation and not from old evolved stellar populations such as horizontal branch stars. Furthermore, the UV enhancement cannot be from an active galactic nuclei (AGN) because the spatial extent of the blue cores is significantly larger than the possible contamination region due to a massive black hole. The recent star formation in the blue BCGs typically has an age less than 200 Myr and contributes mass fractions of less than a per cent. Although the sample studied here is small, we demonstrate, for the first time , a one-to-one correspondence between blue cores in elliptical galaxies (in particular BCGs) and a NUV enhancement observed using GALEX . The combination of this one-to-one correspondence and the consistently young age of recent star formation, coupled with additional correlations with the host cluster's X-ray properties, strongly suggests that the star formation is fuelled by gas cooling out of the intracluster medium. In turn, this implies that any AGN heating of the intracluster medium in massive clusters only acts to reduce the magnitude of the cooling flow and once this flow starts, it is nearly always active. Collectively, these results suggest that AGN feedback in present-day BCGs, while important, cannot be as efficient as suggested by the recent theoretical model by proposed by De Lucia et al.     

Feedback heating by cosmic rays in clusters of galaxies

Recent observations show that the cooling flows in the central regions of galaxy clusters are highly suppressed. Observed active galactic nuclei (AGN)-induced cavities/bubbles are a leading candidate for suppressing cooling, usually via some form of mechanical heating. At the same time, observed X-ray cavities and synchrotron emission point towards a significant non-thermal particle population. Previous studies have focused on the dynamical effects of cosmic ray pressure support, but none has built successful models in which cosmic ray heating is significant. Here, we investigate a new model of AGN heating, in which the intracluster medium is efficiently heated by cosmic rays, which are injected into the intra-cluster medium (ICM) through diffusion or the shredding of the bubbles by Rayleigh–Taylor or Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities. We include thermal conduction as well. Using numerical simulations, we show that the cooling catastrophe is efficiently suppressed. The cluster quickly relaxes to a quasi-equilibrium state with a highly reduced accretion rate and temperature and density profiles which match observations. Unlike the conduction-only case, no fine-tuning of the Spitzer conduction suppression factor f is needed. The cosmic ray pressure, P _c/ P _g ≲ 0.1 and ∇ P _c≲ 0.1ρ g , is well within observational bounds. Cosmic ray heating is a very attractive alternative to mechanical heating, and may become particularly compelling if Gamma-ray Large Array Space Telescope ( GLAST ) detects the γ-ray signature of cosmic rays in clusters.     

Morphology of flows and buoyant bubbles in the Virgo cluster

There is growing evidence that the active galactic nuclei (AGN) associated with the central elliptical galaxy in clusters of galaxies are playing an important role in the evolution of the intracluster medium (ICM) and clusters themselves. We use high-resolution three-dimensional simulations to study the interaction of the cavities created by AGN outflows (bubbles) with the ambient ICM. The gravitational potential of the cluster is modelled using the observed temperature and density profiles of the Virgo cluster. We demonstrate the importance of the hydrodynamical Kutta–Zhukovsky forces associated with the vortex ring structure of the bubbles, and discuss possible effects of diffusive processes on their evolution.     

The Sunyaev–Zel'dovich temperature of the intracluster medium

The relativistic Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) effect offers a method, independent of X-ray, for measuring the temperature of the intracluster medium (ICM) in the hottest systems. Here, using N -body/hydrodynamic simulations of three galaxy clusters, we compare the two quantities for a non-radiative ICM, and for one that is subject both to radiative cooling and to strong energy feedback from galaxies. Our study has yielded two interesting results. First, in all cases, the SZ temperature is hotter than the X-ray temperature and is within 10 per cent of the virial temperature of the cluster. Secondly, the mean SZ temperature is less affected by cooling and feedback than the X-ray temperature. Both these results can be explained by the SZ temperature being less sensitive to the distribution of cool gas associated with cluster substructure. A comparison of the SZ and X-ray temperatures (measured for a sample of hot clusters) would therefore yield interesting constraints on the thermodynamic structure of the intracluster gas.     

A diffuse bubble-like radio-halo source MRC 0116+111: imprint of AGN feedback in a low-mass cluster of galaxies

We present detailed observations of MRC 0116+111, revealing a luminous, miniradio halo of ∼240-kpc diameter located at the centre of a cluster of galaxies at redshift   z = 0.131  . Our optical and multiwavelength Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and Very Large Array radio observations reveal a highly unusual radio source: showing a pair of giant (∼100-kpc diameter) bubble-like diffuse structures, that are about three times larger than the analogous extended radio emission observed in M87 – the dominant central radio galaxy in the Virgo cluster. However, in MRC 0116+111 we do not detect any ongoing active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, such as a compact core or active radio jets feeding the plasma bubbles. The radio emitting relativistic particles and magnetic fields were probably seeded in the past by a pair of radio jets originating in the AGN of the central cD galaxy. The extremely steep high-frequency radio spectrum of the north-western bubble, located ∼100 kpc from cluster centre, indicates radiation losses, possibly because having detached, it is rising buoyantly and moving away into the putative hot intracluster medium. The other bubble, closer to the cluster centre, shows signs of ongoing particle re-acceleration. We estimate that the radio jets which inflated these two bubbles might have also fed enough energy into the intracluster medium to create an enormous system of cavities and shock fronts, and to drive a massive outflow from the AGN, which could counter-balance and even quench a cooling flow. Therefore, this source presents an excellent opportunity to understand the energetics and the dynamical evolution of radio jet inflated plasma bubbles in the hot cluster atmosphere.     

Supersonic motions of galaxies in clusters

We study motions of galaxies in galaxy clusters formed in the concordance Λ cold dark matter cosmology. We use high-resolution cosmological simulations that follow the dynamics of dark matter and gas and include various physical processes critical for galaxy formation: gas cooling, heating and star formation. Analysing the motions of galaxies and the properties of intracluster gas in a sample of eight simulated clusters at z = 0, we study the velocity dispersion profiles of the dark matter, gas and galaxies. We measure the mean velocity of galaxy motions and gas sound speed as a function of radius and calculate the average Mach number of galaxy motions. The simulations show that galaxies, on average, move supersonically with the average Mach number of ≈1.4, approximately independent of the cluster-centric radius. The supersonic motions of galaxies may potentially provide an important source of heating for the intracluster gas by driving weak shocks and via dynamical friction, although these heating processes appear to be inefficient in our simulations. We also find that galaxies move slightly faster than the dark matter particles. The magnitude of the velocity bias,   b _v ≈ 1.1  , is, however, smaller than the bias estimated for subhaloes in dissipationless simulations. Interestingly, we find velocity bias in the tangential component of the velocity dispersion, but not in the radial component. Finally, we find significant random bulk motions of gas. The typical gas velocities are of order ≈20–30 per cent of the gas sound speed. These random motions provide about 10 per cent of the total pressure support in our simulated clusters. The non-thermal pressure support, if neglected, will bias measurements of the total mass in the hydrostatic analyses of the X-ray cluster observations.     

Temperature and abundance profiles of hot gas in galaxy groups – II. Implications for feedback and ICM enrichment

We investigate the history of galactic feedback and chemical enrichment within a sample of 15 X-ray bright groups of galaxies, on the basis of the inferred Fe and Si distributions in the hot gas and the associated metal masses produced by core-collapse and Type Ia supernovae (SNe). Most of these cool-core groups show a central Fe and Si excess, which can be explained by prolonged enrichment by SN Ia and stellar winds in the central early-type galaxy alone, but with tentative evidence for additional processes contributing to core enrichment in hotter groups. Inferred metal mass-to-light ratios inside r ₅₀₀ show a positive correlation with total group mass but are generally significantly lower than in clusters, due to a combination of lower global intracluster medium (ICM) abundances and gas-to-light ratios in groups. This metal deficiency is present for products from both SN Ia and SN II, and suggests that metals were either synthesized, released from galaxies or retained within the ICM less efficiently in lower mass systems. We explore possible causes, including variations in galaxy formation and metal release efficiency, cooling out of metals, and gas and metal loss via active galactic nuclei (AGN) – or starburst-driven galactic winds from groups or their precursor filaments. Loss of enriched material from filaments coupled with post-collapse AGN feedback emerges as viable explanations, but we also find evidence for metals to have been released less efficiently from galaxies in cooler groups and for the ICM in these to appear chemically less evolved, possibly reflecting more extended star formation histories in less massive systems. Some implications for the hierarchical growth of clusters from groups are briefly discussed.     

Evolution of X-ray cavities

A wide range of recent observations have shown that active galactic nuclei (AGN) driven cavities may provide the energy source that balances the cooling observed in the centres of 'cool-core' galaxy clusters. One tool for better understanding the physics of these cavities is their observed morphological evolution, which is dependent on such poorly understood properties as the turbulent density field and the impact of magnetic fields. Here, we combine numerical simulations that include subgrid turbulence and software that produces synthetic X-ray observations to examine the evolution of X-ray cavities in the absence of magnetic fields. Our results reveal an anisotropic size evolution of the cavities that is dramatically different from simplified, analytical predictions. These differences highlight some of the key issues that must be accurately quantified when studying AGN-driven cavities, and help to explain why the inferred pV energy in these regions appears to be correlated with their distance from the cluster centre. Interpreting that X-ray observations will require detailed modelling of effects, including mass entrainment, distortion by drag forces and projection. Current limitations do not allow a discrimination between purely hydrodynamic and magnetically dominated models for X-ray cavities.     

Bubbles, feedback and the intracluster medium: three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations

We use a three-dimensional hydrodynamical code to simulate the effect of energy injection on cooling flows in the intracluster medium. Specifically, we compare a simulation of a 10¹⁵-M_⊙ cluster with radiative cooling only with a second simulation in which thermal energy is injected 31 kpc off-centre, over 64 kpc³ at a rate of     for 50 Myr. The heat injection forms a hot, low-density bubble which quickly rises, dragging behind it material from the cluster core. The rising bubble pushes with it a shell of gas which expands and cools. We find the appearance of the bubble in X-ray temperature and luminosity to be in good qualitative agreement with recent Chandra observations of cluster cores. Toward the end of the simulation, at 600 Myr, the displaced gas begins to fall back toward the core, and the subsequent turbulence is very efficient at mixing the low- and high-entropy gas. The result is that the cooling flow is disrupted for up to ∼ 50 Myr after the injection of energy ceases. Thus this mechanism provides a very efficient method for regulating cooling flows, if the injection events occur with a 1:1 duty cycle.     

Cooling flows as a calorimeter of active galactic nucleus mechanical power

The assumption that radiative cooling of gas in the centres of galaxy clusters is approximately balanced by energy input from a central supermassive black hole implies that the observed X-ray luminosity of the cooling flow region sets a lower limit on active galactic nucleus (AGN) mechanical power. The conversion efficiency of the mechanical power of the AGN into gas heating is uncertain, but we argue that it can be high even in the absence of strong shocks. These arguments inevitably lead to the conclusion that the time-averaged mechanical power of AGNs in cooling flows is much higher than the bolometric luminosity of these objects observed currently.
The energy balance between cooling losses and AGN mechanical power requires some feedback mechanism. We consider a toy model in which the accretion rate on to a black hole is set by the classic Bondi formula. Application of this model to the best studied case of M87 suggests that accretion proceeds at approximately the Bondi rate down to a few gravitational radii with most of the power (at the level of a few per cent of the rest mass) being carried away by an outflow.     

Sunyaev–Zel'dovich profiles and scaling relations: modelling effects and observational biases

We use high-resolution hydrodynamic resimulations to investigate the properties of the thermal Sunyaev–Zel'dovich (SZ) effect from galaxy clusters. We compare results obtained using different physical models for the intracluster medium (ICM), and show how they modify the SZ emission in terms of cluster profiles and scaling relations. We also produce realistic mock observations to verify whether the results from hydrodynamic simulations can be confirmed. We find that SZ profiles depend marginally on the modelled physical processes, while they exhibit a strong dependence on cluster mass. The central and total SZ emission strongly correlates with the cluster X-ray luminosity and temperature. The logarithmic slopes of these scaling relations differ from the self-similar predictions by less than 0.2; the normalization of the relations is lower for simulations including radiative cooling. The observational test suggests that SZ cluster profiles are unlikely to be able to probe the ICM physics. The total SZ decrement appears to be an observable much more robust than the central intensity, and we suggest using the former to investigate scaling relations.     

A statistically selected Chandra sample of 20 galaxy clusters – I. Temperature and cooling time profiles

We present an analysis of 20 galaxy clusters observed with the Chandra X-ray satellite, focusing on the temperature structure of the intracluster medium and the cooling time of the gas. Our sample is drawn from a flux-limited catalogue but excludes the Fornax, Coma and Centaurus clusters, owing to their large angular size compared to the Chandra field of view. We describe a quantitative measure of the impact of central cooling, and find that the sample comprises nine clusters possessing cool cores (CCs) and 11 without. The properties of these two types differ markedly, but there is a high degree of uniformity amongst the CC clusters, which obey a nearly universal radial scaling in temperature of the form   T ∝ r ^∼0.4  , within the core. This uniformity persists in the gas cooling time, which varies more strongly with radius in CC clusters  ( t _cool∝ r ^∼1.3)  , reaching   t _cool < 1 Gyr  in all cases, although surprisingly low central cooling times (<5 Gyr) are found in many of the non-CC systems. The scatter between the cooling time profiles of all the clusters is found to be remarkably small, implying a universal form for the cooling time of gas at a given physical radius in virialized systems, in agreement with recent previous work. Our results favour cluster merging as the primary factor in preventing the formation of CCs.     

Stochastic heating of cooling flows

It is generally accepted that the heating of gas in clusters of galaxies by active galactic nuclei is a form of feedback. Feedback is required to ensure a long-term, sustainable balance between heating and cooling. This work investigates the impact of proportional stochastic feedback on the energy balance in the intracluster medium. Using a generalized analytical model for a cluster atmosphere, it is shown that an energy equilibrium can be reached exponentially quickly. Applying the tools of stochastic calculus, it is demonstrated that the result is robust with regard to the model parameters, even though they affect the amount of variability in the system.     

A Chandra and XMM–Newton study of the wide-angle tail radio galaxy 3C 465

We have observed the prototypical wide-angle tail (WAT) radio galaxy 3C 465 with Chandra and XMM–Newton . X-ray emission is detected from the active nucleus and the inner radio jet, as well as a small-scale, cool component of thermal emission, a number of the individual galaxies of the host cluster (Abell 2634), and the hotter thermal emission from the cluster itself. The X-ray detection of the jet allows us to argue that synchrotron emission may be an important mechanism in other well-collimated, fast jets, including those of classical double radio sources. The bases of the radio plumes are not detected in the X-ray, which supports the model in which these plumes are physically different from the twin jets of lower-power radio galaxies. The plumes are in fact spatially coincident with deficits of X-ray emission on large scales, which argues that they contain little thermal material at the cluster temperature, although the minimum pressures throughout the source are lower than the external pressures estimated from the observed thermal emission. Our observations confirm both spatially and spectrally that a component of dense, cool gas with a short cooling time is associated with the central galaxy. However, there is no evidence for the kind of discontinuity in external properties that would be required in many models of the jet–plume transition in WATs. Although the WAT jet–plume transition appears likely to be related to the interface between this central cool component and the hotter intracluster medium, the mechanism for WAT formation remains unclear. We revisit the question of the bending of WAT plumes, and show that the plumes can be bent by plausible bulk motions of the intracluster medium, or by motion of the host galaxy with respect to the cluster, as long as the plumes are light.     

The growth and assembly of a massive galaxy at z∼ 2

We study the stellar mass assembly of the Spiderweb galaxy  (MRC 1138−262)  , a massive   z = 2.2  radio galaxy in a protocluster and the probable progenitor of a brightest cluster galaxy. Nearby protocluster galaxies are identified and their properties are determined by fitting stellar population models to their rest-frame ultraviolet to optical spectral energy distributions. We find that within 150 kpc of the radio galaxy the stellar mass is centrally concentrated in the radio galaxy, yet most of the dust-uncorrected, instantaneous star formation occurs in the surrounding low-mass satellite galaxies. We predict that most of the galaxies within 150 kpc of the radio galaxy will merge with the central radio galaxy by   z = 0  , increasing its stellar mass by up to a factor of ≃2. However, it will take several hundred Myr for the first mergers to occur, by which time the large star formation rates are likely to have exhausted the gas reservoirs in the satellite galaxies. The tidal radii of the satellite galaxies are small, suggesting that stars and gas are being stripped and deposited at distances of tens of kpc from the central radio galaxy. These stripped stars may become intracluster stars or form an extended stellar halo around the radio galaxy, such as those observed around cD galaxies in cluster cores.