Testing the thermal interpretation of the cluster soft excess with XMM-Newton
Abstract
Until the advent of XMM-Newton, the cluster soft excess (CSE) was the subject of some controversy, both from the point of view of data analysis issues as well as the emission mechanism that gave rise to the soft excess emission. XMM-Newton observations have finally laid to rest any doubts as to the existence of the CSE and have given tantalising clues as to the nature of the emission mechanism giving rise to the CSE. Here we report on detailed analysis of XMM-Newton observations of a sample of clusters in an attempt to push our understanding of the CSE further. Included as part of the study is a detailed analysis of possible background effects and problems which can affect observations of the CSE. We also report on ongoing work towards studying the spatial properties of the CSE and what the measured properties of the CSE can tell us about the emission mechanism both at the centre of clusters and at their outskirts, where the emission is thought to be thermal. This includes a comparison of theoretical predictions of the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium with our data, and we provide further constraints to the thermal model from absorption line studies of background objects.
- Publication:
-
35th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2004
- Bibcode:
- 2004cosp...35.3215M