2008/06/05 by Steven A. Balbus, Christopher S. Reynolds · 25 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Galaxy cluster #Galaxy groups and clusters #Magnetohydrodynamics #Thermal #Thermal conductivity #Turbulence #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/590554
published in The Astrophysical Journal 681(2), L65-L68 (IOP Publishing) · 4 Pages. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters
arxiv created 2008/06/05 · openalex publication_date 2008/06/27 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The role of thermal conduction in regulating the thermal behavior of cooling flows in galaxy clusters is reexamined. Recent investigations have shown that the anisotropic Coulomb heat flux caused by a magnetic field in a dilute plasma drives a dynamical instability. A long-standing problem of cooling flow theory has been to understand how thermal conduction can offset radiative core losses without completely preventing them. In this Letter, we propose that magnetohydrodynamic turbulence driven by the heat flux instability regulates field-line insulation and drives a reverse convective thermal flux, both of which may mediate the stabilization of the cooling cores of hot clusters. This model suggests that turbulent mixing should accompany strong thermal gradients in cooling flows. This prediction seems to be supported by the spatial distribution of metals in the central galaxies of clusters, which shows a much stronger correlation with the ambient hot gas temperature gradient than with the parent stellar population.