Sensitive limits on the molecular gas content of cluster cooling flows

Details Sensitive limits on the molecular gas content of cluster cooling flows Sensitive limits on the molecular gas content of cluster cooling flows

Jan 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994a%26a...281..673m&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 281, no. 3, p. 673-680

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

40

Cooling Flows (Astrophysics), Galactic Clusters, Intergalactic Media, Molecular Clouds, Radio Astronomy, Absorption Spectra, Astronomical Models, Carbon Monoxide, Emission Spectra, Equilibrium Flow, Hydrogen

Scientific paper

We have searched for molecular gas toward six cluster cooling flows in the CO(2-1) line using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. The sample includes clusters with estimated total cooling rates of m-dotCF approximately 10-600 solar mass/yr, at redshifts between z approximately 0.01-0.06. None were detected either in emission or absorption. Our molecular mass limits in the inner approximately 25 kpc are typically MH2 less than or approximately equal to 4 x 109 solar mass. Our limit for the nearest cluster, A 1060, is an order of magnitude lower. In the aggregate, these are the most sensitive limits available for cluster cooling flows. Using model spectra we find that molecular cloud populations as massive as few 1010 solar mass with velocity dispersions less than or approximately equal to 500 km/s are usually excluded, unless the material is colder and/or and has a significantly lower metal abundance compared to average Galactic clouds. If the steady state cooling flow model is correct, the cooling material must be converted efficiently to a non-gaseous state on a timescale of approximately 107-108 yr, or the putative cold clouds must be accelerated to a velocity dispersion greater than or approximately equal to 700 km/s on a similar timescale. Future observations with broader bandwidths should yield improved limits. Failure to detect CO at levels significantly lower than these may be difficult to reconcile with standard cooling flow models.

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