Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1999-02-06
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
21 pages, 7 figures, Figure 2 is color postscript. Accepted for publication in ApJ
Scientific paper
10.1086/307298
We present initial results from the first 3-dimensional numerical magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of magnetic field evolution in merging clusters of galaxies. Within the framework of idealized initial conditions similar to our previous work, we look at the gasdynamics and the magnetic field evolution during a major merger event in order to examine the suggestion that shocks and turbulence generated during a cluster/subcluster merger can produce magnetic field amplification and relativistic particle acceleration and, as such, may play a role in the formation and evolution of cluster-wide radio halos. The ICM, as represented by the equations of ideal MHD, is evolved self-consistently within a changing gravitational potential defined largely by the collisionless dark matter component represented by an N-body particle distribution. The MHD equations are solved by the Eulerian, finite-difference code, ZEUS. The particles are evolved by a standard particle-mesh (PM) code. We find significant evolution of the magnetic field structure and strength during two distinct epochs of the merger evolution.
Burns O. Jr. J.
Roettiger Kurt
Stone James M.
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