Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Jan 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010aas...21535104c&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #215, #351.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.534
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
Ongoing and future cosmological programs, aimed at constraining the nature of Dark Energy by using galaxy clusters as proxies of the cosmological expansion, will likely be challenged by the mechanism by which clusters grow: collisions with similar or smaller systems. Typically, such surveys rely on an accurate determination of the evolution of the cluster mass function. Mergers, which occur more frequently at high redshift, may bias the mass estimates of clusters, leading to compromised mass functions, and unreliable cosmological parameters.
In this work, I aim to quantify the bias introduced by mergers on the cluster mass function. I present preliminary results from a set of adiabatic computer simulations of binary cluster mergers that cover an unprecedented parameter space volume: about two orders of magnitude in primary cluster mass, an order of magnitude in subcluster mass and an order of magnitude in impact parameter. The gas fraction of these objects is allowed to vary with the cluster mass, in agreement with the most recent Chandra observations of clusters in the mass range 5e13-1e15 M&sun;. The systems are in hydrostatic equilibrium prior to the collisions, and their properties are in excellent agreement with detailed Chandra and XMM-Newton observations. The simulations are performed with the TreeSPH code Gadget-2.
I analyze the hydrodynamic state of the merging clusters, and calculate their X-ray and Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) properties, as viewed from several different orientations. I determine the systematic errors introduced into cluster-mass estimates as a function of the system's dynamical state. I also consider some of the recently devised X-ray signatures which attempt to avoid problems with mergers, such as YX and the center-excised X-ray luminosity. I derive similar results for the SZ properties.
Upon project completion, the simulation data will be made publicly available. This research has been supported by NASA through Chandra award TM7-8010X.
Chatzikos Marios
O'Shea Brian W.
Sarazin Craig L.
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