Star formation in X-ray cluster cooling flows

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

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Cooling, Cooling Flows (Astrophysics), Cosmic X Rays, Galactic Clusters, Galactic Evolution, Gas Flow, Interstellar Gas, Star Formation, Star Formation Rate, Brightness, Chemical Composition, Deposition, Flow Velocity, Gas Density, Gas Temperature, Gravitational Fields, Luminosity, Mass Distribution, Rates (Per Time), Spatial Distribution, Thermal Stability

Scientific paper

We consider whether accreting galaxies are formed by star formation in their associated cooling flows. We derive the basic equations relevant to cooling flows, including the effects of star formation. We develop a local approximation for the star formation rate, based on a detailed thermal instability analysis. This prescription allows analytic solutions to be found for both isobaric and gravity-dominated cooling flows. These analytic solutions are used to qualitatively illustrate the effects of star formation upon the structure of cooling flows. We develop techniques to directly determine the star formation rate, the mass distribution and the gas density, temperature and velocity distributions from X-ray surface brightness data for cooling flows. These techniques take account of the potentially important X-ray emission from star-forming cooling condensations dropping out of the background flow. We calculate numerical models of star-forming cooling flows and assess how the structure of cooling flows is affected by star formation, as well as by variations in intracluster temperature, overall accretion rate, elemental abundances and the form of the gravitational potential. We calculate the X-ray emission from these models and search for a diagnostic that is cleanly indicative of ongoing star formation in X-ray cluster cooling flows. Finally, we calculate the spatial distribution of newly formed stars in each of our models and compare it to that of the accreting galaxy. We assess whether cooling flows are more likely to contribute to the luminous parts of an accreting galaxy or to a dark-matter component.

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