2003/05/31 by J. S. Arabadjis, M. W. Bautz, G. Arabadjis · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Cluster (spacecraft) #Computer science #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy cluster #Physics #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/425208
published as Astrophys.J. 617 (2004) 303-314 · final version to match accepted ApJ version; 29 pages
arxiv created 2004/08/19 · openalex publication_date 2004/12/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Knowledge of the structure of galaxy clusters is essential for an understanding of large scale structure in the universe, and may provide important clues to the nature of dark matter. Moreover, the shape of the dark matter distribution in the cluster core may offer insight into the structure formation process. Unfortunately, cluster cores also tend to be the site of complicated astrophysics. X-ray imaging spectroscopy of relaxed clusters, a standard technique for mapping their dark matter distributions, is often complicated by the presence of cool components in cluster cores, and the dark matter profile one derives for a cluster is sensitive to assumptions made about the distribution of this component. In addition, fluctuations in the temperature measurements resulting from normal statistical variance can produce results which are unphysical. We present here a procedure for extracting the dark matter profile of a spherically symmetric, relaxed galaxy cluster which deals with both of these complications.