Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1996-09-06
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 286 (1997) 329-342
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
16 pages, LaTeX file, all figures included, revised version, accepted for publication in MNRAS
Scientific paper
We present the results of an attempt to adapt the distribution function formalism to characterize large-scale structures like clusters of galaxies that form in a cosmological N-body simulation. While galaxy clusters are systems that are not strictly in equilibrium, we show that their evolution can nevertheless be studied using a physically motivated extension of the language of equilibrium stellar dynamics. Restricting our analysis to the virialized region, a prescription to limit the accessible phase-space is presented, which permits the construction of both the isotropic and the anisotropic distribution functions $f(E)$ and $f(E,L)$. The method is applied to models extracted from a catalogue of simulated clusters. Clusters evolved in open and flat background cosmologies are followed during the course of their evolution, and are found to transit through a sequence of what we define as `quasi-equilibrium' states. An interesting feature is that the computed $f(E)$ is well fit by an exponential form. We conclude that the dynamical evolution of a cluster, undergoing relaxation punctuated by interactions and violent mergers with consequent energy-exchange, can be studied both in a qualitative and quantitative fashion by following the time evolution of $f(E)$.
Hjorth Jens
Natarajan Priyamvada
van Kampen Eelco
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