Temperature Structure in Abell 1367

Abstract

We study the temperature structure of the rich cluster of galaxies Abell 1367 using two independent methods of correcting for the ASCA point-spread function. The results of the two methods are in excellent agreement and give solid evidence of a strong and localized shock in the intracluster medium. Our analysis suggests that we are observing the merger of two subclusters. We find that the lower luminosity subcluster, located to the northwest, has a higher temperature of 4.2 ± 0.3 keV, compared to the more luminous southeast subcluster, whose temperature is 3.2 ± 0.1 keV. An analysis of the ROSAT surface brightness profiles of both subclusters is also presented. The data agree well with predictions from numerical simulations of mergers between subcluster-sized masses, in particular with early stages of the merger prior to the first core passage.