ChandraObservations of the Disruption of the Cool Core in A133
- 20 August 2002
- journal article
- Published by American Astronomical Society in The Astrophysical Journal
- Vol. 575 (2), 764-778
- https://doi.org/10.1086/341352
Abstract
We present the analysis of a Chandra observation of the galaxy cluster Abell 133, which has a cooling flow core, a central radio source, and a diffuse, filamentary radio source which has been classified as a radio relic. The X-ray image shows that the core has a complex structure. The most prominent feature is a "tongue" of emission which extends from the central cD galaxy to the northwest and partly overlaps the radio relic. One possibility is that this tongue is produced by Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instabilities through the interaction between the cold gas around the cD galaxy and hot intracluster medium. We estimate the critical velocity and time scale for the KH instability to be effective for the cold core around the cD galaxy. We find that the KH instability can disrupt the cold core if the relative velocity is >~400 km s^-1. We compare the results with those of clusters in which sharp, undisrupted cold fronts have been observed; in these clusters, the low temperature gas in their central regions has a more regular distribution. In contrast to Abell 133, these cluster cores have longer timescales for the disruption of the core by the KH instability when they are normalized to the timescale of the cD galaxy motion. Thus, the other cores are less vulnerable to KH instability. Another possible origin of the tongue is that it is gas which has been uplifted by a buoyant bubble of nonthermal plasma that we identify with the observed radio relic. From the position of the bubble and the radio estimate of the age of the relic source, we estimate avelocity of ~700 km s^-1 for the bubble. The structure of the bubble and this velocity are consistent with numerical models for such buoyant bubbles. (abridged)Comment: 38 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in ApThis publication has 58 references indexed in Scilit:
- Simulation of radio plasma in clusters of galaxiesMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2002
- The new emerging model for the structure of cooling cores in clusters of galaxiesAstronomy & Astrophysics, 2002
- [ITAL]Chandra[/ITAL] Observation of the Radio Source/X-Ray Gas Interaction in the Cooling Flow Cluster Abell 2052The Astrophysical Journal, 2001
- Buoyant radio plasma in clusters of galaxiesMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2001
- Evolution of Buoyant Bubbles in M87The Astrophysical Journal, 2001
- An XMM-Newton study of the sub-structure in M 87's haloAstronomy & Astrophysics, 2001
- The interaction of the radio halo of M87 with the cooling intracluster medium of the Virgo clusterMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1995
- Observations of interaction between cluster gas and the radio lobes of Cygnus AMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1994
- A ROSAT HRI study of the interaction of the X-ray-emitting gas and radio lobes of NGC 1275Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1993
- Abundances of the elements: Meteoritic and solarGeochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1989