Physics
Scientific paper
Jul 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000hst..prop.8690s&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #8690
Physics
Hst Proposal Id #8690 Galaxies
Scientific paper
Massive, dominant ellipticals with attendant emission-line gas, dust and hot, heavy X-ray emitting coronae lie at the very centers of galaxy clusters. The physics of these complex, high pressure regions remains controversial: Are cooling flows responsible? Do mergers dominate, with massive accretion events triggering an array of phenomena? Is the AGN crucial? A major impetus to understanding the physics of these regions will come with Chandra. NGC4696 in the Centaurus galaxy cluster is archetypal. WFPC2 images have shown a dramatic bifurcation between gas and dust. The nucleus itself is seen to be a compact triple, with two blue components straddling a third red one. We propose to obtain STIS long- slit spectra { omannumeral1} along a line-emission filament and { omannumeral2} along a dust filament: are we witnessing physical separation of gas and dust, as in comet ion/dust tails, due to late stage merger physics; or are very high velocities, due to powerful AGN influences, shifting emission lines out of filters? Is the HAlpha+NII filament a shock, responsible for the known off-center X-ray peak? { omannumeral3} A third spectrum will be across the compact 0.26'' triple nucleus: is it a multiple nucleus confirming the merger scenario; or a disk around a black-hole, allowing mass determination; or the first double optical synchrotron jet; or a gravitational lens? A wealth of vital physical and kinematical data will result from these carefully selected spectra.
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