A Textbook Example of a Bow Shock in the Merging Galaxy Cluster 1E 0657-56

2001/10/31 by M. Markevitch, Maxim Markevitch, Anthony H. Gonzalez +9 · 626 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Bow shock (aerodynamics) #Cluster (spacecraft) #Cooling flow #Core (optical fiber) #Front (military) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy cluster #Halo #Mach number #Mechanics #Meteorology #Optics #Physics #Ram pressure #Shock (circulatory) #Shock front #Shock wave #Star formation #astro-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/339619

published in The Astrophysical Journal 567(1), L27-L31 (IOP Publishing) · Revision: minor clarifications, mention optical results. 5 pages, uses emulateapj.sty, includes color figures (grayscale version available from http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~maxim/papers). ApJ Letters in press

openalex publication_date 2002/02/12 · arxiv created 2002/02/28 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

The Chandra image of the merging, hot galaxy cluster 1E 0657-56 reveals a bow shock propagating in front of a bullet-like gas cloud just exiting the disrupted cluster core. This is the first clear example of a shock front in a cluster. From the jumps in the gas density and temperature at the shock, the Mach number of the bullet-like cloud is 2-3. This corresponds to a velocity of 3000-4000 km s -1 relative to the main cluster, which means that the cloud traversed the core just 0.1-0.2 Gyr ago. The 6-7 keV "bullet" appears to be a remnant of a dense cooling flow region once located at the center of a merging subcluster whose outer gas has been stripped by ram pressure. The bullet's shape indicates that it is near the final stage of being destroyed by ram pressure and gasdynamic instabilities, as the subcluster galaxies move well ahead of the cool gas. The unique simplicity of the shock front and bullet geometry in 1E 0657-56 may allow a number of interesting future measurements. The cluster's average temperature is 14-15 keV but shows large spatial variations. The hottest gas ( T > 20 keV) lies in the region of the radio halo enhancement and extensive merging activity involving subclusters other than the bullet.

Citations

• A comparison of radio and X-ray morphologies of four clusters of galaxies containing radio halos
• H I in the Galaxy

Cited by

• NuSTAROBSERVATIONS OF THE BULLET CLUSTER: CONSTRAINTS ON INVERSE COMPTON EMISSION
• AMR Simulations of the Cosmological Light Cone: SZE Surveys of the Synthetic Universe
• Chandrameasurements of non-thermal-like X-ray emission from massive, merging, radio halo clusters
• A DeepChandraObservation of Abell 4059: A New Face to “Radio‐Mode” AGN Feedback?
• The Bullet Cluster 1E0657-558 evidence shows modified gravity in the absence of dark matter
• THE PHYSICAL ORIGINS OF THE MORPHOLOGY-DENSITY RELATION: EVIDENCE FOR GAS STRIPPING FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY
• Shock acceleration as origin of the radio relic in A 521?
• Gas sloshing, cold front formation and metal redistribution: the Virgo cluster as a quantitative test case
• Comparison of Cluster Lensing Profiles with ΛCDM Predictions
• Cluster Merger Shock Constraints on Particle Acceleration and Nonthermal Pressure in the Intracluster Medium
• Temperature gradients in XMM-Newton observed REFLEX-DXL galaxy clustersat z ∼ 0.3
• A merger mystery: no extended radio emission in the merging cluster Abell 2146
• Shock finding on a moving mesh – I. Shock statistics in non-radiative cosmological simulations
• Probing the large-scale structure around the most distant galaxy clusters from the massive cluster survey
• THE RADIO RELICS AND HALO OF EL GORDO, A MASSIVEz= 0.870 CLUSTER MERGER
• Abell 315: reconciling cluster mass estimates from kinematics, X-ray, and lensing
• X-ray properties in massive galaxy clusters: XMM-Newton observations of the REFLEX-DXL sample
• Tempestuous life beyond R500: X-ray view on the Coma cluster with SRG/eROSITA
• Systematic X-Ray Analysis of Radio Relic Clusters with Suzaku
• X-ray observations of a subhalo associated with the NGC 4839 group infalling toward the Coma cluster
• DeepHerschelview of obscured star formation in the Bullet cluster
• Diffuse radio emission in/around the Coma cluster: beyond simple accretion
• FRONTIER FIELDS CLUSTERS: DEEP CHANDRA OBSERVATIONS OF THE COMPLEX MERGER MACS J1149.6+2223
• Finslerian MOND versus observations of Bullet Cluster 1E 0657−558
• The Broadband Spectrum of Galaxy Clusters
• The 160 Square DegreeROSATSurvey: The Revised Catalog of 201 Clusters with Spectroscopic Redshifts
• ChandraObservations of A85: Merger of the South Subcluster
• Chandra observation of two shock fronts in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 2146
• Astrophysical bow shocks: an analytical solution for the hypersonic blunt body problem in the intergalactic medium
• The abundance of galaxy clusters in modified Newtonian dynamics: cosmological simulations with massive neutrinos
• The mergers in Abell 2256: displaced gas and its connection to the radio-emitting plasma
• Particle re-acceleration and Faraday-complex structures in the RXC J1314.4-2515 galaxy cluster
• A massive cluster at z = 0.288 caught in the process of formation: The case of Abell 959
• Evidence for a Merger-induced Shock Wave in ZwCl 0008.8+5215 with Chandra and Suzaku
• The spectacular cluster chain Abell 781 as observed with LOFAR, GMRT, and XMM-Newton
• Weak‐Lensing Mass Reconstruction of the Interacting Cluster 1E 0657−558: Direct Evidence for the Existence of Dark Matter
• The Two‐dimensionalXMM‐NewtonGroup Survey:z< 0.012 Groups
• X‐Ray Constraints on Galaxy‐Gas‐Jet Interactions in the Dumbbell Galaxies NGC 4782 and NGC 4783 in the LGG 316 Galaxy Group
• XMM‐NewtonObservation of the Merging Galaxy Cluster A1644
• Exploring the spectral properties of radio relics – I: integrated spectral index and Mach number
• True versus apparent shapes of bow shocks
• LOFAR, VLA, AND CHANDRA OBSERVATIONS OF THE TOOTHBRUSH GALAXY CLUSTER
• The NGC 5846 Group: Dynamics and the Luminosity Function toMR = -12