SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

C. Jones

Publications and source records attributed to C. Jones.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

A radio continuum view of Stephan's Quintet: age, dynamics and origin of the shock

We present a detailed, multi-band radio continuum study of the compact galaxy group Stephan's Quintet (HCG 92). We use a combination of new (MeerKAT, uGMRT) and archival (LOFAR, VLA) observations covering the $\rm 120\,MHz{-}8\,GHz$ frequency range to examine the radio properties of the group, focusing on the famous radio ridge and surrounding diffuse emission. We find filamentary substructure and branching in the southern half of the ridge, confirm an extension of the ridge to the northwest, and identify for the first time a radio counterpart to the gas bridge linking the ridge and NGC 7319. The northern ridge, northwest extension and diffuse emission have relatively steep, curved spectra, with a high-frequency spectral index gradient running north-south along the ridge. We show that the ridge emission primarily arises from a single physical mechanism, probably strong ($\mathcal{M}\simeq 40-100$) shocks in cold gas, caused by the $\rm \sim850-1000\,kms^{-1}$ collision between NGC 7318B and tidal gas filaments produced by past galaxy interactions. Synchrotron spectral age estimates suggest the collision began at the north end of the ridge $\rm \sim20\,Myr$ ago, and finished only $\rm \sim5-6\,Myr$ ago in the south, with the southern end of the shocked ridge likely still within or close to the disk of NGC 7318B. Based on this age gradient, we find that the angle between the intruder galaxy's motion and the tidal filaments was probably only about 15 degrees, and combining this with the lack of a spectral index gradient in the diffuse radio emission suggests that NGC 7318B's direction of motion is probably close to the line of sight.

astro-ph.GA

Cosmological constraints from the Planck cluster catalogue with DES shear profiles and Chandra observations

We present cosmological constraints from the Planck PSZ2 cosmological cluster sample, using weak-lensing shear profiles from Dark Energy Survey (DES) data and X-ray observations from the Chandra telescope for the mass calibration. We compute hydrostatic mass estimates for all clusters in the PSZ2 sample with a scaling relation between their Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal and X-ray derived hydrostatic mass, calibrated with the Chandra data. We introduce a method to correct these masses with a hydrostatic mass bias using shear profiles from wide-field galaxy surveys. We simultaneously fit the number counts of the PSZ2 sample and the mass calibration with the DES data, finding $\Omega_\text{m}=0.312^{+0.018}_{-0.024}$, $\sigma_8=0.777\pm 0.024$, $S_8\equiv \sigma_8 \sqrt{\Omega_\text{m} / 0.3}=0.791^{+0.023}_{-0.021}$, and $(1-b)=0.844^{+0.055}_{-0.062}$ for our baseline analysis when combined with BAO data. When considering a hydrostatic mass bias evolving with mass, we find $\Omega_\text{m}=0.353^{+0.025}_{-0.031}$, $\sigma_8=0.751\pm 0.023$, and $S_8=0.814^{+0.019}_{-0.020}$. We verify the robustness of our results by exploring a variety of analysis settings, with a particular focus on the definition of the halo centre used for the extraction of shear profiles. We compare our results with a number of other analyses, in particular two recent analyses of cluster samples obtained from SPT and eROSITA data that share the same mass calibration data set. We find that our results are in overall agreement with most late-time probes, in very mild tension with CMB results (1.6$\sigma$), and in significant tension with results from eROSITA clusters (2.9$\sigma$). We confirm that our mass calibration is consistent with the eROSITA analysis by comparing masses for clusters present in both Planck and eROSITA samples, eliminating it as a potential cause of tension.

astro-ph.CO

Radial Profiles of Radio Halos in Massive Galaxy Clusters: Diffuse Giants Over 2 Mpc

We present new, high frequency radio observations of the merging galaxy clusters PLCK G287.0+32.9, Abell 2744, and Bullet. These clusters are known to host $\sim$Mpc scale sources, known as radio halos, which are formed by the acceleration of cosmic rays by turbulence injected into the intracluster medium during cluster mergers. Our new images reveal previously undetected faint outermost regions of halos, extending to over 2 Mpc. This discovery highlights the presence of radio halos with large extents at high frequencies and suggests that their observable size depends on a combination of the observation sensitivity and uv-coverage, and their radio power. We additionally compare the properties of these three clusters with MACS J0717+3745 and Abell 2142, both of which are known to host prominent large radio halos. Remarkably, all five halos, despite their exceptionally large extents, exhibit properties similar to other classical halos: their radial profiles are described by a single-component exponential fit, they show radial spectral index steepening, and have an average radio emissivity of about $10^{-42}\, \mathrm{erg\,s^{-1}\,cm^{-3}\,Hz^{-1}}$. Our results demonstrate that radio halos can extend to the cluster periphery, without the transition to an observationally distinguishable different halo component in the outermost regions. Our findings highlight that careful subtraction of unrelated sources embedded in the halo is necessary to measure the radio surface brightness accurately, as incomplete subtraction can introduce an apparent secondary component in the peripheral regions.

astro-ph.CO

Deep Chandra observations of PLCKG287.0+32.9: a clear detection of a shock front in a heated former cool core

The massive, hot galaxy cluster PSZ2 G286.98+32.90 (hereafter PLCKG287, z=0.383) hosts a giant radio halo and two prominent radio relics which are signs of a disturbed dynamical state. However, despite optical and radio observations indicate a clear multiple merger, the X-ray emission of the cluster, derived from XMM-Newton observations, shows only moderate disturbance. We present new 200 ks Chandra observations of PLCKG287. We detect a shock front to the NW direction at a distance of ~390 kpc from the X-ray peak, characterized by a Mach number M~1.3, as well as a cold front at a distance of ~300 kpc from the X-ray peak, nested in the same direction of the shock in a typical configuration expected by a merger. We also find evidence for X-ray depressions to the E and W, that could be the signature of feedback from the active galactic nucleus (AGN). The radial profile of the thermodynamic quantities show a temperature and abundance peak in the cluster center, where also the pressure and entropy have a rapid increase. Based on these properties, we argue that PLCKG287 is what remains of a cool core after a heating event. We estimate that both the shock energy and the AGN feedback energy, implied by the analysis of the X-ray cavities, are sufficient to heat the core to the observed temperature of ~17 keV in the central ~160 kpc. We discuss the possible origin of the detected shock by investigating alternative scenarios of merger and AGN outburst, finding that they are both energetically viable. However, no single model seems able to explain all the X-ray features detected in this system. This suggests that the combined action of merger and central AGN feedback is likely necessary to explain the reheated cool core, the large-scale shock and the cold front. The synergy of these two processes may act in shaping the distribution of cool core and non cool core clusters. [Abridged]

astro-ph.CO

Merger of massive galaxy cluster CL0238.3+2005 at z~0.4: just after pericenter passage?

Massive clusters of galaxies are very rare in the observable Universe. Even rarer are mergers of such clusters observed close to pericenter passage. Here, we report on one such case: a massive (~ $10^{15}\,M_\odot$) and hot (kT ~ 10 keV) cluster CL0238.3+2005 at $z\approx 0.42$. For this cluster, we combine X-ray data from SRG/eROSITA and Chandra, optical images from DESI, and spectroscopy from BTA and RTT-150 telescopes. The X-ray and optical morphologies suggest an ongoing merger with the projected separation of subhalos of $\sim 200$ kpc. The line-of-sight velocity of galaxies tentatively associated with the two merging halos differs by 2000-3000 km/s. We conclude that, most plausibly, the merger axis is neither close to the line of sight nor to the sky plane. We compare CL0238 with two well-known clusters MACS0416 and Bullet, and conclude that CL0238 corresponds to an intermediate phase between the pre-merging MACS0416 cluster and the post-merger Bullet cluster. Namely, this cluster has recently (only $\lesssim 0.1$ Gyr ago) experienced an almost head-on merger. We argue that this "just after" system is a very rare case and an excellent target for lensing, Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, and X-ray studies that can constrain properties ranging from dynamics of mergers to self-interacting dark matter, and plasma effects in intracluster medium that are associated with shock waves, e.g., electron-ion equilibration efficiency and relativistic particle acceleration.

astro-ph.CO

The Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility at 12 GeV

This review paper describes the energy-upgraded CEBAF accelerator. This superconducting linac has achieved 12 GeV beam energy by adding 11 new high-performance cryomodules containing eighty-eight superconducting cavities that have operated CW at an average accelerating gradient of 20 MV/m. After reviewing the attributes and performance of the previous 6 GeV CEBAF accelerator, we discuss the upgraded CEBAF accelerator system in detail with particular attention paid to the new beam acceleration systems. In addition to doubling the acceleration in each linac, the upgrade included improving the beam recirculation magnets, adding more helium cooling capacity to allow the newly installed modules to run cold, adding a new experimental hall, and improving numerous other accelerator components. We review several of the techniques deployed to operate and analyze the accelerator performance, and document system operating experience and performance. In the final portion of the document, we present much of the current planning regarding projects to improve accelerator performance and enhance operating margins, and our plans for ensuring CEBAF operates reliably into the future. For the benefit of potential users of CEBAF, the performance and quality measures for beam delivered to each of the experimental halls is summarized in the appendix.

physics.acc-ph

A Deep Dive into the NGC 741 Galaxy Group: Insights into a Spectacular Head-Tail Radio Galaxy from VLA, MeerKAT, uGMRT and LOFAR

We present deep, wideband multifrequency radio observations (144 MHz$-$8 GHz) of the remarkable galaxy group NGC 741, which yield crucial insights into the interaction between the infalling head-tail radio galaxy (NGC 742) and the main group. Our new data provide an unprecedentedly detailed view of the NGC 741-742 system, including the shock cone, disrupted jets from NGC 742, the long ($\sim$ 255 kpc) braided southern radio tail, and eastern lobe-like structure, and reveal, for the first time, complex radio filaments throughout the tail and lobe, and a likely vortex ring behind the shock cone. The cone traces the bow shock caused by the supersonic ($\mathcal{M}\sim2$) interaction between the head-tail radio galaxy NGC 742 and the intragroup medium (IGrM) while the ring may have been formed by interaction between the NGC 742 shock and a previously existing lobe associated with NGC 741. This interaction plausibly compressed and re-accelerated the radio plasma. We estimate that shock-heating by NGC 742 has likely injected $\sim$2-5$\times$10$^{57}$ erg of thermal energy into the central 10 kpc cooling region of the IGrM, potentially affecting the cooling and feedback cycle of NGC 741. A comparison with Chandra X-ray images shows that some of the previously detected thermal filaments align with radio edges, suggesting compression of the IGrM as the relativistic plasma of the NGC 742 tail interacts with the surrounding medium. Our results highlight that multi-frequency observations are key to disentangling the complex, intertwined origins of the variety of radio features seen in the galaxy group NGC 741, and the need for simulations to reproduce all the detected features.

astro-ph.GA

Cosmological constraints from the Chandra-Planck galaxy cluster sample

We provide a new scaling relation between $Y_{\text{SZ}}$, the integrated Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal and $M_{500}^{Y_{\text{X}}}$, the cluster mass derived from X-ray observations, using a sample of clusters from the Planck Early Sunyaev-Zeldovich (ESZ) catalogue observed in X-rays by Chandra, and compare it to the results of the Planck collaboration obtained from XMM-Newton observations of a subsample of the ESZ. We calibrated a mass bias on a subset of the Planck cosmological cluster sample using published weak-lensing data from CCCP and MENeaCS, for the new scaling relation as well as that from the Planck collaboration. We propose a novel method to account for selection effects and find a mass bias of $(1-b)=0.89\pm0.04$ for the Chandra-calibrated scaling relation, and $(1-b)=0.76\pm0.04$ for the XMM-Newton-calibrated scaling relation. We apply the scaling relations we derived to the full Planck cosmological cluster sample and obtain identical cosmological constraints regardless of the X-ray sample used, with $\sigma_8 =0.77\pm0.02$, $\Omega_m=0.31\pm0.02$, and $S_8= \sigma_8 \sqrt{\Omega_m / 0.3}=0.78\pm0.02$. We also provide constraints with a redshift evolution of the scaling relation fitted from the data instead of fixing it to the self-similar value. We find a redshift evolution significantly deviating from the self-similar value, leading to a higher value of $S_8=0.81\pm0.02$. We compare our results to those from various cosmological probes, and find that our $S_8$ constraints are competitive with the tightest constraints from the literature. When assuming a self-similar redshift evolution, our constraints are in agreement with most late-time probes and in tension with constraints from the CMB primary anisotropies. When relaxing the assumption of redshift evolution and fitting it to the data, we find no significant tension with results from either late-time probes or the CMB.

astro-ph.CO

CHEX-MATE: Characterization of the intra-cluster medium temperature distribution

We study the perturbations in the temperature (and density) distribution for 28 clusters selected from the CHEX-MATE sample to evaluate and characterize the level of inhomogeneities and the related dynamical state of the ICM. We use these spatially resolved 2D distributions to measure the global and radial scatter and identify the regions that deviate the most from the average distribution. During this process, we introduce three dynamical state estimators and produce clean temperature profiles after removing the most deviant regions. We find that the temperature distribution of most of the clusters is skewed towards high temperatures and is well described by a log-normal function. There is no indication that the number of regions deviating more than 1$\sigma$ from the azimuthal value is correlated with the dynamical state inferred from morphological estimators. The removal of these regions leads to local temperature variations up to 10-20% and an average increase of $\sim$5% in the overall cluster temperatures. The measured relative intrinsic scatter within $R_{500}$, $\sigma_{T,int}/T$, has values of 0.17$^{+0.08}_{-0.05}$, and is almost independent of the cluster mass and dynamical state. Comparing the scatter of temperature and density profiles to hydrodynamic simulations, we constrain the average Mach number regime of the sample to $M_{3D}$=0.36$^{+0.16}_{-0.09}$. We infer the ratio between the energy in turbulence and the thermal energy, and translate this ratio in terms of a predicted hydrostatic mass bias $b$, estimating an average value of $b\sim$0.11 (covering a range between 0 and 0.37) within $R_{500}$. This study provides detailed temperature fluctuation measurements for 28 CHEX-MATE clusters which can be used to study turbulence, derive the mass bias, and make predictions on the scaling relation properties.

astro-ph.CO

Abell 746: A highly disturbed cluster undergoing multiple mergers

We present deep XMM-Newton, Karl Jansky Very Large Array, and upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope observations of Abell 746, a cluster that hosts a plethora of diffuse emission sources that provide evidence for the acceleration of relativistic particles. Our new XMM-Newton images reveal a complex morphology of the thermal gas with several substructures. We observe an asymmetric temperature distribution across the cluster: the southern regions exhibit higher temperatures, reaching ~9 keV, while the northern regions have lower temperatures (below 4 keV), likely due to a complex merger. We find evidence of four surface brightness edges, of which three are merger-driven shock fronts. Combining our new data with the published LOw-Frequency ARray observations has unveiled the nature of diffuse sources in this system. The bright northwest relic shows thin filaments and high degree of polarization with aligned magnetic field vectors. We detect a density jump, aligned with the fainter relic to the north. To the south, we detect high-temperature regions, consistent with shock-heated regions and density jump coincident with the northern tip of the southern radio structure. Its integrated spectrum shows a high-frequency steepening. Lastly, we find that the cluster hosts large-scale radio halo emission. The comparison of the thermal and nonthermal emission reveals an anticorrelation between the bright radio and X-ray features at the center. Our findings suggest that Abell 746 is a complex system that involves multiple mergers.

astro-ph.CO

X-ray Cavity Dynamics and their Role in the Gas Precipitation in Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) Selected Clusters

We study active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback in nearby (z<0.35) galaxy clusters from the Planck Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) sample using Chandra observations. This nearly unbiased mass-selected sample includes both relaxed and disturbed clusters and may reflect the entire AGN feedback cycle. We find that relaxed clusters better follow the one-to-one relation of cavity power versus cooling luminosity, while disturbed clusters display higher cavity power for a given cooling luminosity, likely reflecting a difference in cooling and feedback efficiency. Disturbed clusters are also found to contain asymmetric cavities when compared to relaxed clusters, hinting toward the influence of the intracluster medium (ICM) weather on the distribution and morphology of the cavities. Disturbed clusters do not have fewer cavities than relaxed clusters, suggesting that cavities are difficult to disrupt. Thus, multiple cavities are a natural outcome of recurrent AGN outbursts. As in previous studies, we confirm that clusters with short central cooling times, tcool, and low central entropy values, K0, contain warm ionized (10000 K) or cold molecular (<100 K) gas, consistent with ICM cooling and a precipitation/chaotic cold accretion (CCA) scenario. We analyzed archival MUSE observations that are available for 18 clusters. In 11/18 of the cases, the projected optical line emission filaments appear to be located beneath or around the cavity rims, indicating that AGN feedback plays an important role in forming the warm filaments by likely enhancing turbulence or uplift. In the remaining cases (7/18), the clusters either lack cavities or their association of filaments with cavities is vague, suggesting alternative turbulence-driven mechanisms (sloshing/mergers) or physical time delays are involved.

astro-ph.GA

Stable Quantum-Correlated Many Body States through Engineered Dissipation

Engineered dissipative reservoirs have the potential to steer many-body quantum systems toward correlated steady states useful for quantum simulation of high-temperature superconductivity or quantum magnetism. Using up to 49 superconducting qubits, we prepared low-energy states of the transverse-field Ising model through coupling to dissipative auxiliary qubits. In one dimension, we observed long-range quantum correlations and a ground-state fidelity of 0.86 for 18 qubits at the critical point. In two dimensions, we found mutual information that extends beyond nearest neighbors. Lastly, by coupling the system to auxiliaries emulating reservoirs with different chemical potentials, we explored transport in the quantum Heisenberg model. Our results establish engineered dissipation as a scalable alternative to unitary evolution for preparing entangled many-body states on noisy quantum processors.

quant-ph

Phase transition in Random Circuit Sampling

Undesired coupling to the surrounding environment destroys long-range correlations on quantum processors and hinders the coherent evolution in the nominally available computational space. This incoherent noise is an outstanding challenge to fully leverage the computation power of near-term quantum processors. It has been shown that benchmarking Random Circuit Sampling (RCS) with Cross-Entropy Benchmarking (XEB) can provide a reliable estimate of the effective size of the Hilbert space coherently available. The extent to which the presence of noise can trivialize the outputs of a given quantum algorithm, i.e. making it spoofable by a classical computation, is an unanswered question. Here, by implementing an RCS algorithm we demonstrate experimentally that there are two phase transitions observable with XEB, which we explain theoretically with a statistical model. The first is a dynamical transition as a function of the number of cycles and is the continuation of the anti-concentration point in the noiseless case. The second is a quantum phase transition controlled by the error per cycle; to identify it analytically and experimentally, we create a weak link model which allows varying the strength of noise versus coherent evolution. Furthermore, by presenting an RCS experiment with 67 qubits at 32 cycles, we demonstrate that the computational cost of our experiment is beyond the capabilities of existing classical supercomputers, even when accounting for the inevitable presence of noise. Our experimental and theoretical work establishes the existence of transitions to a stable computationally complex phase that is reachable with current quantum processors.

quant-ph

Purification-based quantum error mitigation of pair-correlated electron simulations

An important measure of the development of quantum computing platforms has been the simulation of increasingly complex physical systems. Prior to fault-tolerant quantum computing, robust error mitigation strategies are necessary to continue this growth. Here, we study physical simulation within the seniority-zero electron pairing subspace, which affords both a computational stepping stone to a fully correlated model, and an opportunity to validate recently introduced ``purification-based'' error-mitigation strategies. We compare the performance of error mitigation based on doubling quantum resources in time (echo verification) or in space (virtual distillation), on up to $20$ qubits of a superconducting qubit quantum processor. We observe a reduction of error by one to two orders of magnitude below less sophisticated techniques (e.g. post-selection); the gain from error mitigation is seen to increase with the system size. Employing these error mitigation strategies enables the implementation of the largest variational algorithm for a correlated chemistry system to-date. Extrapolating performance from these results allows us to estimate minimum requirements for a beyond-classical simulation of electronic structure. We find that, despite the impressive gains from purification-based error mitigation, significant hardware improvements will be required for classically intractable variational chemistry simulations.

quant-ph

AGN feedback duty cycle in Planck SZ selected clusters using Chandra observations

We present a systematic study of X-ray cavities using archival Chandra observations of nearby galaxy clusters selected by their Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) signature in the Planck survey, which provides a nearly unbiased mass-selected sample to explore the entire AGN feedback duty cycle. Based on X-ray image analysis, we report that 30 of the 164 clusters show X-ray cavities, which corresponds to a detection fraction of 18%. After correcting for spatial resolution to match the high-$z$ SPT-SZ sample, the detection fraction decreases to 9%, consistent with the high-z sample, hinting that the AGN feedback has not evolved across almost 8 Gyrs. Our finding agrees with the lack of evolution of cool-core clusters fraction. We calculate the cavity power, P_{\rm cav}, and find that most systems of our sample have enough AGN heating to offset the radiative losses of the intracluster medium.

astro-ph.GA

High-resolution, High-sensitivity, Low-frequency uGMRT View of Coma Cluster of Galaxies

We present high-resolution, high-sensitivity upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope observations of the Coma cluster (A1656) at 250-500 MHz and 550-850 MHz. At 250-500 MHz, 135 sources have extensions $>$ 0.45 arcmin (with peak-to-local-noise ratio $> 4$). Of these, 24 sources are associated with Coma-member galaxies. In addition, we supplement this sample of 24 galaxies with 20 ram pressure stripped galaxies from Chen et al. (2020, eight are included in the original extended radio source sample) and an additional five are detected and extended. We present radio morphologies, radio spectra, spectral index maps, and equipartition properties for these two samples. In general, we find the equipartition properties lie within a narrow range (e.g., $P_{\rm min}$ = 1-3 dynes cm$^{-2}$). Only NGC 4874, one of the two brightest central Coma cluster galaxies, has a central energy density and pressure about five times higher and a radio source age about 50 % lower than that of the other Coma galaxies. We find a diffuse tail of radio emission trailing the dominant galaxy of the merging NGC 4839 group that coincides with the "slingshot" tail, seen in X-rays. The southwestern radio relic, B1253$+$275, has a large extent $\approx$ 32$^\prime$ $\times$ 10$^\prime$ ($\simeq$ 1.08 $\times$ 0.34 Mpc$^2$). For NGC 4789, whose long radio tails merge into the relic and may be a source of its relativistic seed electrons, and we find a transverse radio spectral gradient, a steepening from southwest to northeast across the width of the radio source. Finally, radio morphologies of the extended and RPS samples suggest that these galaxies are on their first infall into Coma on (predominantly) radial orbits.

astro-ph.GA

Improved measurement of the $0_2^+\rightarrow0_1^+$ E0 transition strength for $^{72}$Se using the SPICE spectrometer

The selenium isotopes lie at the heart of a tumultuous region of the nuclear chart where shape coexistence effects grapple with neutron-proton pairing correlations, triaxiality, and the impending proton dripline. In this work a study of $^{72}$Se by internal conversion electron and $\gamma$-ray spectroscopy was undertaken with the SPICE and TIGRESS arrays. New measurements of the branching ratio and lifetime of the $0_2^+$ state were performed yielding a determination of $\rho^2(E0;0_2^+{\rightarrow}0_1^+)=29(3)$ milliunits. two state mixing calculations were performed that highlighted the importance of interpretation of such $E0$ strength values in the context of shape-coexistence.

nucl-ex

Radio relics in PSZ2 G096.88+24.18: A connection with pre-existing plasma

Giant radio relics are arc-like structures of diffuse, non-thermal synchrotron radiation that trace shock waves induced by galaxy cluster mergers. The particle (re-)acceleration mechanism producing such radio relics is unclear. One major open question is whether relics can be formed directly from a population of thermal seed electrons, or if pre-existing relativistic seed electrons are required. In some cases AGN can provide such a population of sub-GeV electrons. However, it is unclear how common this connection is. In this paper we present LOFAR 140 MHz and VLA L-band radio observations, as well as Chandra data of PSZ2 G096.88+24.18, a merging galaxy cluster system hosting a pair of radio relics. A large patch of diffuse emission connects a bright radio galaxy with one of the relics, likely affecting the properties of the relic. We find that the most plausible explanation for the connection is that the merger shock wave has passed over an AGN lobe. The shock passing over this seed population of electrons has led to an increased brightness in the relic only in the region filled with seed electrons.

astro-ph.HE