We present ALMA observations of the CO(1–0) and CO(3–2) line emission tracing filaments of cold molecular gas in the central galaxy of the cluster PKS 0745−191. The total molecular gas mass of
...$4.6\pm 0.3\times 10^{9} {\rm \, M_{{\odot}}}$
, assuming a Galactic X
CO factor, is divided roughly equally between three filaments each extending radially 3-5 kpc from the galaxy centre. The emission peak is located in the SE filament ∼ 1 arcsec (2 kpc) from the nucleus. The velocities of the molecular clouds in the filaments are low, lying within
$\pm 100 {\rm \, km \rm \, s^{-1}}$
of the galaxy's systemic velocity. Their full width at half-maximum (FWHM) are less than
$150 {\rm \, km \rm \, s^{-1},}$
which is significantly below the stellar velocity dispersion. Although the molecular mass of each filament is comparable to a rich spiral galaxy, such low velocities show that the filaments are transient and the clouds would disperse on < 107 yr time-scales unless supported, likely by the indirect effect of magnetic fields. The velocity structure is inconsistent with a merger origin or gravitational free-fall of cooling gas in this massive central galaxy. If the molecular clouds originated in gas cooling even a few kpc from their current locations their velocities would exceed those observed. Instead, the projection of the N and SE filaments underneath X-ray cavities suggests they formed in the updraft behind bubbles buoyantly rising through the cluster atmosphere. Direct uplift of the dense gas by the radio bubbles appears to require an implausibly high coupling efficiency. The filaments are coincident with low temperature X-ray gas, bright optical line emission and dust lanes indicating that the molecular gas could have formed from lifted warmer gas that cooled in situ.
We present a multiwavelength morphological analysis of star-forming clouds and filaments in the central (≲50 kpc) regions of 16 low-redshift (z < 0.3) cool core brightest cluster galaxies. New Hubble ...Space Telescope imaging of far-ultraviolet continuum emission from young (≲10 Myr), massive (≳5 M⊙) stars reveals filamentary and clumpy morphologies, which we quantify by means of structural indices. The FUV data are compared with X-ray, Lyα, narrow-band Hα, broad-band optical/IR, and radio maps, providing a high spatial resolution atlas of star formation locales relative to the ambient hot (∼107–8 K) and warm ionized (∼104 K) gas phases, as well as the old stellar population and radio-bright active galactic nucleus (AGN) outflows. Nearly half of the sample possesses kpc-scale filaments that, in projection, extend towards and around radio lobes and/or X-ray cavities. These filaments may have been uplifted by the propagating jet or buoyant X-ray bubble, or may have formed in situ by cloud collapse at the interface of a radio lobe or rapid cooling in a cavity's compressed shell. The morphological diversity of nearly the entire FUV sample is reproduced by recent hydrodynamical simulations in which the AGN powers a self-regulating rain of thermally unstable star-forming clouds that precipitate from the hot atmosphere. In this model, precipitation triggers where the cooling-to-free-fall time ratio is t
cool/t
ff ∼ 10. This condition is roughly met at the maximal projected FUV radius for more than half of our sample, and clustering about this ratio is stronger for sources with higher star formation rates.
We present a new Chandra observation of the galaxy cluster Abell 2146 which has revealed a complex merging system with a gas structure that is remarkably similar to the Bullet cluster. The X-ray ...image and temperature map show a cool 2 –3 keV subcluster with a ram pressure stripped tail of gas just exiting the disrupted 6 − 7 keV primary cluster. From the sharp jump in the temperature and density of the gas, we determine that the subcluster is preceded by a bow shock with a Mach number M= 2.2 ± 0.8, corresponding to a velocity v= 2200+1000−900 km s−1 relative to the main cluster. We estimate that the subcluster passed through the primary core only 0.1 –0.3 Gyr ago. In addition, we observe a slower upstream shock propagating through the outer region of the primary cluster and calculate a Mach number M= 1.7 ± 0.3. Based on the measured shock Mach numbers M∼ 2 and the strength of the upstream shock, we argue that the mass ratio between the two merging clusters is between 3 and 4 to one. By comparing the Chandra observation with an archival Hubble Space Telescope observation, we find that a group of galaxies is located in front of the X-ray subcluster core but the brightest cluster galaxy is located immediately behind the X-ray peak.
We extend and apply a model-independent analysis method developed earlier by Daly & Djorgovski to new supernova, radio galaxy, and galaxy cluster samples to study the acceleration history of the ...universe and the properties of the dark energy. There is good agreement between results obtained with radio galaxies and supernovae, suggesting that both distance indicators are reliable. The deceleration parameter image is obtained assuming only the validity of the FRW metric, allowing for a range of values of space curvature, and independent of a gravity theory and the physical nature of the contents of the universe. We show that q sub(0) is independent of space curvature, and obtain image. The transition redshift when image is image for zero space curvature, and has a weak dependence on space curvature. We find good agreement between model-independent quantities and those predicted by general relativity, indicating that GR provides a good description of the data over look-back times of ten billion years.
ABSTRACT As part of our program to build a complete radio and X-ray database of all Third Cambridge catalog extragalactic radio sources, we present an analysis of 93 sources for which Chandra ...archival data are available. Most of these sources have already been published. Here we provide a uniform re-analysis and present nuclear X-ray fluxes and X-ray emission associated with radio jet knots and hotspots using both publicly available radio images and new radio images that have been constructed from data available in the Very Large Array archive. For about 1/3 of the sources in the selected sample, a comparison between the Chandra and radio observations was not reported in the literature: we find X-ray detections of 2 new radio jet knots and 17 hotspots. We also report the X-ray detection of extended emission from the intergalactic medium for 15 galaxy clusters.
We present the results of high-resolution VLBI (very long baseline interferometry) observations at 1.6 and 4.9 GHz of the radio-loud Seyfert galaxy, Mrk 6. These observations are able to detect a ...compact radio core in this galaxy for the first time. The core has an inverted spectral index ($\alpha ^{1.6}_{4.9}$ = +1.0 ± 0.2) and a brightness temperature of 1 × 108 K. Three distinct radio components, which resemble jet elements and/or hotspots, are also detected. The position angles of these elongated jet elements point not only to a curved jet in Mrk 6, but also towards a connection between the AGN and the kpc-scale radio lobes/bubbles in this galaxy. Firmer constraints on the star formation rate provided by new Herschel observations (SFR < 0.8 M⊙ yr−1) make the starburst-wind-powered bubble scenario implausible. From plasma speeds, obtained via prior Chandra X-ray observations, and ram pressure balance arguments for the interstellar medium and radio bubbles, the north–south bubbles are expected to take 7.5 × 106 yr to form, and the east–west bubbles 1.4 × 106 yr. We suggest that the jet axis has changed at least once in Mrk 6 within the last ≈107 yr. A comparison of the nuclear radio-loudness of Mrk 6 and a small sample of Seyfert galaxies with a subset of low-luminosity FR I radio galaxies reveals a continuum in radio properties.
We report on our Chandra Cycle 9 program to observe half of the 60 (unobserved by Chandra) 3C radio sources at z < 0.3 for 8 ks each. Here we give the basic data: the X-ray intensity of the nuclei ...and any features associated with radio structures such as hotspots and knots in jets. We have measured fluxes in soft, medium, and hard bands and are thus able to isolate sources with significant intrinsic column density. For the stronger nuclei, we have applied the standard spectral analysis which provides the best-fit values of X-ray spectral index and column density. We find evidence for intrinsic absorption exceeding a column density of 10{sup 22} cm{sup -2} for one-third of our sources.
We present a new Chandra X-ray observation of the off-axis galaxy group merger RX J0751.3+5012. The hot atmospheres of the two colliding groups appear highly distorted by the merger. The images ...reveal arc-like cold fronts around each group core, produced by the motion through the ambient medium, and the first detection of a group merger shock front. We detect a clear density and temperature jump associated with a bow shock of Mach number M = 1.9 ± 0.4 ahead of the northern group. Using galaxy redshifts and the shock velocity of 1100 ± 300 km s−1, we estimate that the merger axis is only ∼10° from the plane of the sky. From the projected group separation of ∼90 kpc, this corresponds to a time since closest approach of ∼0.1 Gyr. The northern group hosts a dense, cool core with a ram pressure stripped tail of gas extending ∼100 kpc. The sheared sides of this tail appear distorted and broadened by Kelvin–Helmholtz instabilities. We use the presence of this substructure to place an upper limit on the magnetic field strength and, for Spitzer-like viscosity, show that the development of these structures is consistent with the critical perturbation length above which instabilities can grow in the intragroup medium. The northern group core also hosts a galaxy pair, UGC 4052, with a surrounding IR and near-UV ring ∼40 kpc in diameter. The ring may have been produced by tidal stripping of a smaller galaxy by UGC 4052 or it may be a collisional ring generated by a close encounter between the two large galaxies.
Abstract
We present Chandra X-ray and Very Large Array radio observations of the radio galaxy 3C 305. The X-ray observations reveal the details of the previously known extended X-ray halo around the ...radio galaxy. We show using X-ray spectroscopy that the X-ray emission is consistent with being shock-heated material and can be modelled with standard collisional-ionization models, rather than being photoionized by the active nucleus. On this basis, we can make a self-consistent model in which the X-ray-emitting plasma is responsible for the depolarization of some regions of the radio emission from the jets and hotspots, and to place lower and upper limits on the magnetic field strength in the depolarizing medium. On the assumption that the X-ray-emitting material, together with the previously known extended emission-line region and the outflow in neutral hydrogen, is all being driven out of the centre of the galaxy by an interaction with the jets, we derive a detailed energy budget for the radio galaxy, showing that the X-ray-emitting gas dominates the other phases in terms of its energy content. The power supplied by the jets must be ∼1043 erg s−1.
We present multifrequency observations of the radio galaxy Hydra-A (3C218) located in the core of a massive, X-ray luminous galaxy cluster. Integral field unit spectroscopy is used to trace the ...kinematics of the ionized and warm molecular hydrogen which are consistent with an ∼5 kpc rotating disc. Broad, double-peaked lines of CO(2-1), C ii 157 μm and O i 63 μm are detected. We estimate the mass of the cold gas within the disc to be M
gas = 2.3 ± 0.3 × 109 M. These observations demonstrate that the complex line profiles found in the cold atomic and molecular gas are related to the rotating disc or ring of gas. Finally, a Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy shows that this gas disc contains a substantial mass of dust. The large gas mass, star formation rate and kinematics are consistent with the levels of gas cooling from the intracluster medium (ICM). We conclude that the cold gas originates from the continual quiescent accumulation of cooled ICM gas. The rotation is in a plane perpendicular to the projected orientation of the radio jets and ICM cavities hinting at a possible connection between the kpc-scale cooling gas and the accretion of material on to the black hole. We discuss the implications of these observations for models of cold accretion, AGN feedback and cooling flows.