Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21430702h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, #307.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.730
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Identification of Abell 3120 as a galaxy cluster has recently been questioned with alternative suggestions for the X-ray source including: a fossil remnant of a group merger, non-thermal emission from a radio galaxy, and projected emission from a filamentary string of galaxies. We report on our analysis of the Chandra observation and evaluate these hypotheses based on our results. Abell 3120 shows X-ray emission extending to 158 kpc. The spatial distribution of X-rays in the core more closely follows the radio emission showing a jet-like structure extending to the north that is misaligned with the stellar light distribution of the central galaxy. At larger radii the X-ray emission is aligned with the SE-NW running axis of the galaxy distribution in the cluster core. The emission weighted temperature is 1.93 - 2.19 keV and the 0.3 - 10 keV luminosity is 1.23 x 1043 ergs s-1. Modeling the X-ray spectrum excludes purely non-thermal emission. The best fitting model consists of a thermal component and a second component that may be either thermal or non-thermal, with luminosity 25% of the total X-ray luminosity. The second thermal component marginally requires a higher redshift, > 0.12, and may be due to the rich surrounding environment consisting of nearly a thousand catalogued galaxies. The spatial and spectral results taken together suggest that the second component may be non-thermal and due to a weak AGN in the core. Abell 3120 appears to be a poor cluster with Virgo and MKW 4 as peers.
Finoguenov Alexis
Henriksen Mark J.
No associations
LandOfFree
The X-ray View of Abell 3120 does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The X-ray View of Abell 3120, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The X-ray View of Abell 3120 will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1106183