A Study of the Radial and Azimuthal Gas Distribution in Massive Galaxy Clusters
Abstract
Clusters of galaxies are particularly interesting astrophysical systems, are the largest bound structures in the Universe, and contain fair sample of cosmic ingredients. Studies of cluster abundance as a function of mass and redshift were critical in establishing the standard model of cosmology. This dissertation presents results from X-ray imaging of massive distant (M > 1e14 Msun, 0.3 < z < 1.2) clusters, found via X-ray emission or Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect. This is the world's largest sample of massive galaxy clusters. We explore the radial and azimuthal profiles of the X-ray emitting gas and show that clusters are self-similar objects: their internal structure is largely independent of the cluster's mass or redshift, and the fractions of different types of clusters does not change with redshift. We also present a new statistical technique for measuring a cluster's deviations from a perfect axisymmetric shape, which is especially useful in the case of low photon count observations of distant clusters.
- Publication:
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Ph.D. Thesis
- Pub Date:
- 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014PhDT........23N
- Keywords:
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- Physics, Astrophysics;Physics, General;Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics