Pith. sign in

REVIEW 1 cited by

Not yet reviewed by Pith; the record is open.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet. Machine review is queued; the pith claim, tier, and objections will appear here once it completes.

SPECIMEN: schema-true, not a live event

T0 review · schema-true

One-sentence machine reading of the paper's core claim.

pith:XXXXXXXX · record.json · timestamp

arxiv 1603.05232 v3 pith:OPXMGX3D submitted 2016-03-16 astro-ph.CO astro-ph.GAastro-ph.HE

The merging galaxy cluster A520 --- a broken-up cool core, a dark subcluster, and an X-ray channel

classification astro-ph.CO astro-ph.GAastro-ph.HE
keywords massx-raya520clumpsclusterfieldchannelcool
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
0 comments
read the original abstract

We present results from a deep Chandra X-ray observation of a merging galaxy cluster A520. A high-resolution gas temperature map, after the subtraction of the cluster-scale emission, reveals a long trail of dense, cool clumps --- apparently the fragments of a cool core that has been completely stripped from the infalling subcluster by ram pressure. In this scenario, we can assume that the clumps are still connected by the magnetic field lines. The observed temperature variations imply that thermal conductivity is suppressed by a factor >100 across the presumed direction of the magnetic field (as found in other clusters), and is also suppressed -along- the field lines by a factor of several. Two massive clumps in the periphery of A520, visible in the weak lensing mass map and the X-ray image, have apparently been completely stripped of gas during the merger, but then re-accreted the surrounding high-entropy gas upon exit from the cluster. An X-ray hydrostatic mass estimate for one of the clumps (that has simple geometry) agrees with the lensing mass. Its current gas mass to total mass ratio is very low, 1.5-3%, which makes it a "dark subcluster". We also found a curious low X-ray brightness channel (likely a low-density sheet in projection) going across the cluster along the direction of an apparent secondary merger. The channel may be caused by plasma depletion in a region of an amplified magnetic field (with plasma $\beta\sim 10-20$). The shock in A520 will be studied in a separate paper.

discussion (0)

Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.

Forward citations

Cited by 1 Pith paper

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. The SKA View of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect from Massive Cosmic Halos

    astro-ph.CO 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 2.0

    The SKA will enable high-resolution, high-sensitivity observations of the thermal SZ effect in massive halos, capturing both pressure substructures and large-scale ICM emission.