Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Nov 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994apjs...95...87v&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, vol. 95, no. 1, p. 87-105
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
28
Condensates, Cooling Flows (Astrophysics), Cosmic Gases, Cosmic Plasma, Gas Temperature, High Temperature Gases, High Temperature Plasmas, Intergalactic Media, Plasma Clouds, Spectral Emission, Cosmic Dust, Ionized Gases, Metallicity, Nebulae, Photoionization
Scientific paper
We present computations of the emission-line spectra produced when hot gas cools nonuniformly. During inhomogeneous cooling, soft X-ray/extreme ultraviolet radiation from 105 to 107 K gas photoionizes coexisting clouds that have already cooled to 104 K. Thus, strong emission lines emerge from both the high-ionization cooling gas and embedded low-ionization knots. This mechanism, which ought to operate naturally within the sonic radii of cooling flows, can generate optical emission-line spectra similar to those observed at the centers of many clusters of galaxies thought to contain such flows. We have computed the X-ray, ultraviolet (UV), optical, and infrared (IR) emission-line fluxes expected under a variety of intracluster conditions so that the self-irradiation hypothesis can be compared thoroughly with observations. If this picture is found to be adequate, the models can also be used to measure mass flow rates and inflow velocities in the vicinities of cooling-flow nebulae and to constrain the column densities and covering factors of condensed material at the centers of these clusters.
Donahue Megan
Slavin Jonathan D.
Voit Gerard Mark
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