On Viscosity, conduction and sound waves in the intracluster medium

Jan, 2005
5 pages
Published in:
  • Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 363 (2005) 891-896
e-Print:
Report number:
  • SLAC-PUB-10976

Citations per year

20052010201520202024051015
Abstract: (arXiv)
Recent X-ray and optical observations of the Perseus cluster indicate that the viscous and conductive dissipation of sound waves is the mechanism responsible for heating the intracluster medium and thus balancing radiative cooling of cluster cores. We discuss this mechanism more generally and show how the specific heating and cooling rates vary with temperature and radius. It appears that the heating mechanism is most effective above 10^7K, which allows for radiative cooling to proceed within normal galaxy formation but will stifle the growth of very massive galaxies. The scaling of the wavelength of sound waves with cluster temperature and feedback in the system are investigated.
  • GALAXIES
  • CLUSTERS - COOLING FLOWS - X-RAYS