Nature versus nurture: the curved spine of the galaxy cluster X-ray luminosity–temperature relation |
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| Authors: | W G Hartley L Gazzola F R Pearce S T Kay P A Thomas |
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| Institution: | School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD;Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL;Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH;Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH |
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| Abstract: | The physical processes that define the spine of the galaxy cluster X-ray luminosity–temperature ( L – T ) relation are investigated using a large hydrodynamical simulation of the universe. This simulation models the same volume and phases as the millennium simulation and has a linear extent of 500 h ?1 Mpc . We demonstrate that mergers typically boost a cluster along but also slightly below the L – T relation. Due to this boost, we expect that all of the very brightest clusters will be near the peak of a merger. Objects from near the top of the L – T relation tend to have assembled much of their mass earlier than an average halo of similar final mass. Conversely, objects from the bottom of the relation are often experiencing an ongoing or recent merger. |
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| Keywords: | hydrodynamics methods: numerical cosmology: theory |
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