dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaA Minimalist Merger Interpretation of XRISM's Gas Velocity Measurements in the Coma Cluster
| Authors | Congyao Zhang, Eugene Churazov, Ildar Khabibullin, Natalya Lyskova, Norbert Werner, Irina Zhuravleva |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | 2601.05803vv1 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05803 |
| License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Abstract
The recent microcalorimetric X-ray observations of the Coma cluster by XRISM have sparked active discussion regarding the physical origin of its gas velocity features. Here, we demonstrate that an off-axis minor merger in its early phase $-$ when the infalling subhalo is near its primary apocenter and the stripped tail is not yet mixed with the main cluster atmosphere $-$ can drive intracluster gas motions generally consistent with the XRISM results. These include a pronounced velocity gradient and an approximately uniform velocity dispersion of $\simeq100-200\,\rm{km\,s^{-1}}$ in the cluster core. Our merger scenario was originally suggested in Lyskova et al. (2019) to reproduce the major X-ray morphological features of Coma. In addition, we introduce a simple and robust diagnostic of intracluster gas motions based on the ratio of the line-of-sight velocity to the velocity dispersion.
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"abstract": "The recent microcalorimetric X-ray observations of the Coma cluster by XRISM have sparked active discussion regarding the physical origin of its gas velocity features. Here, we demonstrate that an off-axis minor merger in its early phase $-$ when the infalling subhalo is near its primary apocenter and the stripped tail is not yet mixed with the main cluster atmosphere $-$ can drive intracluster gas motions generally consistent with the XRISM results. These include a pronounced velocity gradient and an approximately uniform velocity dispersion of $\\simeq100-200\\,\\rm{km\\,s^{-1}}$ in the cluster core. Our merger scenario was originally suggested in Lyskova et al. (2019) to reproduce the major X-ray morphological features of Coma. In addition, we introduce a simple and robust diagnostic of intracluster gas motions based on the ratio of the line-of-sight velocity to the velocity dispersion.",
"arxiv_id": "2601.05803",
"authors": [
"Congyao Zhang",
"Eugene Churazov",
"Ildar Khabibullin",
"Natalya Lyskova",
"Norbert Werner",
"Irina Zhuravleva"
],
"categories": [
"astro-ph.HE",
"astro-ph.GA"
],
"license": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"title": "A Minimalist Merger Interpretation of XRISM\u0027s Gas Velocity Measurements in the Coma Cluster",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.05803",
"version": "v1"
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