SZ–X-Ray Surface Brightness Fluctuations in the SPT-XMM Clusters

The hot plasma in galaxy clusters, the intracluster medium, is expected to be shaped by subsonic turbulent motions, which are key for heating, cooling, and transport mechanisms. The turbulent motions contribute to the nonthermal pressure, which, if not accounted for, consequently imparts a hydrostat...

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Main Authors: Charles E. Romero, Massimo Gaspari, Gerrit Schellenberger, Bradford A. Benson, Lindsey E. Bleem, Esra Bulbul, William Forman, Ralph Kraft, Paul Nulsen, Christian L. Reichardt, Arnab Sarkar, Taweewat Somboonpanyakul, Yuanyuan Su
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Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcd74
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author Charles E. Romero
Massimo Gaspari
Gerrit Schellenberger
Bradford A. Benson
Lindsey E. Bleem
Esra Bulbul
William Forman
Ralph Kraft
Paul Nulsen
Christian L. Reichardt
Arnab Sarkar
Taweewat Somboonpanyakul
Yuanyuan Su
author_facet Charles E. Romero
Massimo Gaspari
Gerrit Schellenberger
Bradford A. Benson
Lindsey E. Bleem
Esra Bulbul
William Forman
Ralph Kraft
Paul Nulsen
Christian L. Reichardt
Arnab Sarkar
Taweewat Somboonpanyakul
Yuanyuan Su
author_sort Charles E. Romero
collection DOAJ
description The hot plasma in galaxy clusters, the intracluster medium, is expected to be shaped by subsonic turbulent motions, which are key for heating, cooling, and transport mechanisms. The turbulent motions contribute to the nonthermal pressure, which, if not accounted for, consequently imparts a hydrostatic mass bias. Accessing information about turbulent motions is thus of major astrophysical and cosmological interest. Characteristics of turbulent motions can be indirectly accessed through surface brightness fluctuations. This study expands on our pilot investigations of surface brightness fluctuations in the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich and in X-ray data by examining, for the first time, a large sample of 60 clusters using both SPT-SZ and XMM-Newton data and spans the redshift range 0.2 <  z  < 1.5, thus constraining the respective pressure and density fluctuations within 0.6 R _500 . We deem density fluctuations to be of sufficient quality for 32 clusters, finding mild correlations between the peak of the amplitude spectra of density fluctuations and various dynamical parameters. We infer turbulent velocities from density fluctuations with an average Mach number ${{ \mathcal M }}_{\,\rm{3D}\,}=0.52\pm 0.14$ , in agreement with numerical simulations. For clusters with inferred turbulent Mach numbers from fluctuations in both pressure, ${{ \mathcal M }}_{\,\rm{P}\,}$ , and density, ${{ \mathcal M }}_{\rho }$ , we find broad agreement between ${{ \mathcal M }}_{\,\rm{P}\,}$ and ${{ \mathcal M }}_{\rho }$ . Our results suggest either a bimodal or a skewed unimodal Mach number distribution, with the majority of clusters being turbulence-dominated (subsonic) while the remainder are shock-dominated (supersonic).
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spelling doaj-art-48dfd7e0e71c4824b0b01ce5382c9e0d2025-08-20T03:12:53ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-01985224810.3847/1538-4357/adcd74SZ–X-Ray Surface Brightness Fluctuations in the SPT-XMM ClustersCharles E. Romero0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5725-0359Massimo Gaspari1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2754-9258Gerrit Schellenberger2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4962-0740Bradford A. Benson3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5108-6823Lindsey E. Bleem4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7665-5079Esra Bulbul5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7619-5399William Forman6https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9478-1682Ralph Kraft7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0765-0511Paul Nulsen8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0297-4493Christian L. Reichardt9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2226-9169Arnab Sarkar10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5222-1337Taweewat Somboonpanyakul11https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3521-3631Yuanyuan Su12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3886-1258Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA ; charles.romero@gmail.comDepartment of Physics, Informatics & Mathematics, University of Modena & Reggio Emilia , 41125 MO, ItalyCenter for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA ; charles.romero@gmail.comFermi National Accelerator Laboratory , MS209, P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA; Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago , 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago , 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USAKavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago , 5640 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; High Energy Physics Division , Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL 60439, USAMax Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics , Giessenbachstrasse 1, 85748 Garching, GermanyCenter for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA ; charles.romero@gmail.comCenter for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA ; charles.romero@gmail.comCenter for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA ; charles.romero@gmail.com; ICRAR, University of Western Australia , 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, AustraliaSchool of Physics, University of Melbourne , Parkville, VIC 3010, AustraliaKavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 70 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USADepartment of Physics, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University , 254 Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, ThailandDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky , 505 Rose Street, Lexington, KY 40506, USAThe hot plasma in galaxy clusters, the intracluster medium, is expected to be shaped by subsonic turbulent motions, which are key for heating, cooling, and transport mechanisms. The turbulent motions contribute to the nonthermal pressure, which, if not accounted for, consequently imparts a hydrostatic mass bias. Accessing information about turbulent motions is thus of major astrophysical and cosmological interest. Characteristics of turbulent motions can be indirectly accessed through surface brightness fluctuations. This study expands on our pilot investigations of surface brightness fluctuations in the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich and in X-ray data by examining, for the first time, a large sample of 60 clusters using both SPT-SZ and XMM-Newton data and spans the redshift range 0.2 <  z  < 1.5, thus constraining the respective pressure and density fluctuations within 0.6 R _500 . We deem density fluctuations to be of sufficient quality for 32 clusters, finding mild correlations between the peak of the amplitude spectra of density fluctuations and various dynamical parameters. We infer turbulent velocities from density fluctuations with an average Mach number ${{ \mathcal M }}_{\,\rm{3D}\,}=0.52\pm 0.14$ , in agreement with numerical simulations. For clusters with inferred turbulent Mach numbers from fluctuations in both pressure, ${{ \mathcal M }}_{\,\rm{P}\,}$ , and density, ${{ \mathcal M }}_{\rho }$ , we find broad agreement between ${{ \mathcal M }}_{\,\rm{P}\,}$ and ${{ \mathcal M }}_{\rho }$ . Our results suggest either a bimodal or a skewed unimodal Mach number distribution, with the majority of clusters being turbulence-dominated (subsonic) while the remainder are shock-dominated (supersonic).https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcd74Intracluster mediumGalaxy clusters
spellingShingle Charles E. Romero
Massimo Gaspari
Gerrit Schellenberger
Bradford A. Benson
Lindsey E. Bleem
Esra Bulbul
William Forman
Ralph Kraft
Paul Nulsen
Christian L. Reichardt
Arnab Sarkar
Taweewat Somboonpanyakul
Yuanyuan Su
SZ–X-Ray Surface Brightness Fluctuations in the SPT-XMM Clusters
The Astrophysical Journal
Intracluster medium
Galaxy clusters
title SZ–X-Ray Surface Brightness Fluctuations in the SPT-XMM Clusters
title_full SZ–X-Ray Surface Brightness Fluctuations in the SPT-XMM Clusters
title_fullStr SZ–X-Ray Surface Brightness Fluctuations in the SPT-XMM Clusters
title_full_unstemmed SZ–X-Ray Surface Brightness Fluctuations in the SPT-XMM Clusters
title_short SZ–X-Ray Surface Brightness Fluctuations in the SPT-XMM Clusters
title_sort sz x ray surface brightness fluctuations in the spt xmm clusters
topic Intracluster medium
Galaxy clusters
url https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcd74
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