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C. Pfrommer

Publications and source records attributed to C. Pfrommer.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Relighting the fire in Hickson Compact Group (HCG) 15: magnetised fossil plasma revealed by the SKA Pathfinders & Precursors

In the context of the life cycle and evolution of active galactic nuclei (AGN), the environment plays an important role. In particular, the over-dense environments of galaxy groups, where dynamical interactions and bulk motions have significant impact, offer an excellent but under-explored window into the life cycles of AGN and the processes that shape the evolution of relativistic plasma. Pilot Survey observations with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey recovered diffuse emission associated with the nearby (z = 0.0228) galaxy group HCG15, which was revealed to be strongly linearly polarised. We study the properties of this emission in unprecedented detail to settle open questions about its nature and its relation to the group-member galaxies. We perform a multi-frequency spectropolarimetric study of HCG15 incorporating our ASKAP EMU observations as well as new data from MeerKAT, LOFAR, the GMRT, and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), plus X-ray data from XMM-Newton and optical spectra from the Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT). Our study confirms that the diffuse structure represents remnant emission from historic AGN activity, likely associated with HCG15-D, some 80-86 Myr ago (based on ageing analysis). We detect significant highly linearly-polarised emission from a diffuse 'ridge'-like structure with a highly ordered magnetic field. Our analysis suggests that this emission is generated by draping of magnetic field lines in the intra-group medium (IGrM), although further exploration with simulations would aid our understanding. We confirm that HCG15-C is a group-member galaxy. Finally, we report the detection of thermal emission associated with a background cluster at redshift z ~ 0.87 projected onto the IGrM of HCG15, which matches the position and redshift of the recent SZ detection of ACT-CL J0207.8+0209.

astro-ph.GA

Constraining blazar heating with the 2<z<3 Lyman-$\alpha$ forest

The intergalactic medium (IGM) acts like a calorimeter recording energy injection by cosmic structure formation, shocks and photoheating from stars and active galactic nuclei. It was recently proposed that spatially inhomogeneous TeV-blazars could significantly heat up the underdense IGM, resulting in patches of both cold and warm IGM around $z\simeq2-3$. The goal of this study is to compare predictions of different blazar heating models with recent observations of the IGM. We perform a set of cosmological simulations and carefully compute mock observables of the Lyman-$\alpha\ ($Ly$\alpha$) forest. We perform a detailed assessment of different systematic uncertainties which typically impact this type of observables and find that they are smaller than the differences between our models. We find that our inhomogeneous blazar heating model is in good agreement with the Ly$\alpha$ line properties and the rescaled flux probability distribution function at high redshift ($2.5<z<3$) but that our blazar heating models are challenged by lower redshift data ($2<z<2.5$). Our results could be explained by HeII reionisation although state-of-the-art models fall short on providing enough heating to the low-density IGM, thus motivating further radiative transfer studies of inhomogeneous HeII reionisation. If blazars are indeed hosted by group-mass halos of $2\times10^{13}{M}_\odot$, a later onset of blazar heating in comparison to previous models would be favoured, which could bring our findings here in agreement with the evidence of blazar heating from local gamma-ray observations.

astro-ph.GA

EuCAPT White Paper: Opportunities and Challenges for Theoretical Astroparticle Physics in the Next Decade

Astroparticle physics is undergoing a profound transformation, due to a series of extraordinary new results, such as the discovery of high-energy cosmic neutrinos with IceCube, the direct detection of gravitational waves with LIGO and Virgo, and many others. This white paper is the result of a collaborative effort that involved hundreds of theoretical astroparticle physicists and cosmologists, under the coordination of the European Consortium for Astroparticle Theory (EuCAPT). Addressed to the whole astroparticle physics community, it explores upcoming theoretical opportunities and challenges for our field of research, with particular emphasis on the possible synergies among different subfields, and the prospects for solving the most fundamental open questions with multi-messenger observations.

astro-ph.HE

MERGHERS Pilot: MeerKAT discovery of diffuse emission in nine massive Sunyaev-Zel'dovich-selected galaxy clusters from ACT

The MeerKAT Exploration of Relics, Giant Halos, and Extragalactic Radio Sources (MERGHERS) survey is a planned project to study a large statistical sample of galaxy clusters with the MeerKAT observatory. Here we present the results of a 16--hour pilot project, observed in response to the 2019 MeerKAT Shared Risk proposal call, to test the feasibility of using MeerKAT for a large cluster study using short (0.2--2.1\,hour) integration times. The pilot focuses on 1.28\,GHz observations of 13 massive, low-to-intermediate redshift ($0.22 < z < 0.65$) clusters from the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich-selected Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) DR5 catalogue that show multiwavelength indications of dynamical disturbance. With a 70 per cent detection rate (9/13 clusters), this pilot study validates our proposed MERGHERS observing strategy and provides twelve detections of diffuse emission, eleven of them new, indicating the strength of MeerKAT for such types of studies. The detections (signal-to-noise ratio $\gtrsim6$) are summarised as follows: two systems host both relic(s) and a giant radio halo, five systems host radio halos, and two have candidate radio halos. Power values, $k$-corrected to 1.4 GHz assuming a fiducial spectral index of $\alpha = -1.3 \pm 0.4$, are consistent with known radio halo and relic scaling relations.

astro-ph.CO

Non-Kolmogorov turbulence in multiphase intracluster medium driven by cold gas precipitation and AGN jets

AGN feedback is responsible for maintaining plasma in global thermal balance in extended halos of elliptical galaxies and galaxy clusters. Local thermal instability in the hot gas leads to the formation of precipitating cold gas clouds that feed the central supermassive black holes, thus heating the hot gas and maintaining global thermal equilibrium. We perform three dimensional MHD simulations of self-regulated AGN feedback in a Perseus-like galaxy cluster with the aim of understanding the impact of the feedback physics on the turbulence properties of the hot and cold phases of the ICM. We find that, in general, the cold phase velocity structure function (VSF) is steeper than the prediction from Kolmogorov's theory. We attribute the physical origin of the steeper slope of the cold phase VSF to the driving of turbulent motions primarily by the gravitational acceleration acting on the ballistic clouds. We demonstrate that, in the pure hydrodynamical case, the precipitating cold filaments may be the dominant agent driving turbulence in the hot ICM. The arguments in favor of this hypothesis are that: (i) the cold phase mass dominates over hot gas mass in the inner cool core; (ii) hot and cold gas velocities are spatially correlated; (iii) both the cold and hot phase velocity distributions are radially biased. We show that, in the MHD case, the turbulence in the ambient hot medium (excluding the jet cone regions) can also be driven by the AGN jets. The driving is then facilitated by enhanced coupling due to magnetic fields of the ambient gas and the AGN jets. In the MHD case, turbulence may thus be driven by a combination of AGN jet stirring and filament motions. We conclude that future observations, including those from high spatial and spectral resolution X-ray missions, may help to constrain self-regulated AGN feedback by quantifying the multi-temperature VSF in the ICM.

astro-ph.GA

Whistler-regulated MHD: Transport equations for electron thermal conduction in the high $\beta$ intracluster medium of galaxy clusters

Transport equations for electron thermal energy in the high $\beta_e$ intracluster medium (ICM) are developed that include scattering from both classical collisions and self-generated whistler waves. The calculation employs an expansion of the kinetic electron equation along the ambient magnetic field in the limit of strong scattering and assumes whistler waves with low phase speeds $V_w\sim{v}_{te}/\beta_e\ll{v}_{te}$ dominate the turbulent spectrum, with $v_{te}$ the electron thermal speed and $\beta_e\gg1$ the ratio of electron thermal to magnetic pressure. We find: (1) temperature-gradient-driven whistlers dominate classical scattering when $L_c>L/\beta_e$, with $L_c$ the classical electron mean-free-path and $L$ the electron temperature scale length, and (2) in the whistler dominated regime the electron thermal flux is controlled by both advection at $V_w$ and a comparable diffusive term. The findings suggest whistlers limit electron heat flux over large regions of the ICM, including locations unstable to isobaric condensation. Consequences include: (1) the Field length decreases, extending the domain of thermal instability to smaller length-scales, (2) the heat flux temperature dependence changes from $T_e^{7/2}/L$ to $V_wnT_e\sim{T}_e^{1/2}$, (3) the magneto-thermal and heat-flux driven buoyancy instabilities are impaired or completely inhibited, and (4) sound waves in the ICM propagate greater distances, as inferred from observations. This description of thermal transport can be used in macroscale ICM models.

astro-ph.GA

The effect of cosmic-ray acceleration on supernova blast wave dynamics

Non-relativistic shocks accelerate ions to highly relativistic energies provided that the orientation of the magnetic field is closely aligned with the shock normal (quasi-parallel shock configuration). In contrast, quasi-perpendicular shocks do not efficiently accelerate ions. We model this obliquity-dependent acceleration process in a spherically expanding blast wave setup with the moving-mesh code {\sc arepo} for different magnetic field morphologies, ranging from homogeneous to turbulent configurations. A Sedov-Taylor explosion in a homogeneous magnetic field generates an oblate ellipsoidal shock surface due to the slower propagating blast wave in the direction of the magnetic field. This is because of the efficient cosmic ray (CR) production in the quasi-parallel polar cap regions, which softens the equation of state and increases the compressibility of the post-shock gas. We find that the solution remains self-similar because the ellipticity of the propagating blast wave stays constant in time. This enables us to derive an effective ratio of specific heats for a composite of thermal gas and CRs as a function of the maximum acceleration efficiency. We finally discuss the behavior of supernova remnants expanding into a turbulent magnetic field with varying coherence lengths. For a maximum CR acceleration efficiency of about 15 per cent at quasi-parallel shocks (as suggested by kinetic plasma simulations), we find an average efficiency of about 5 per cent, independent of the assumed magnetic coherence length.

astro-ph.HE

Simulating Gamma-ray Emission in Star-forming Galaxies

Star forming galaxies emit GeV- and TeV-gamma rays that are thought to originate from hadronic interactions of cosmic-ray (CR) nuclei with the interstellar medium. To understand the emission, we have used the moving mesh code Arepo to perform magneto-hydrodynamical galaxy formation simulations with self-consistent CR physics. Our galaxy models exhibit a first burst of star formation that injects CRs at supernovae. Once CRs have sufficiently accumulated in our Milky-Way like galaxy, their buoyancy force overcomes the magnetic tension of the toroidal disk field. As field lines open up, they enable anisotropically diffusing CRs to escape into the halo and to accelerate a bubble-like, CR-dominated outflow. However, these bubbles are invisible in our simulated gamma-ray maps of hadronic pion-decay and secondary inverse-Compton emission because of low gas density in the outflows. By adopting a phenomenological relation between star formation rate (SFR) and far-infrared emission and assuming that gamma rays mainly originate from decaying pions, our simulated galaxies can reproduce the observed tight relation between far-infrared and gamma-ray emission, independent of whether we account for anisotropic CR diffusion. This demonstrates that uncertainties in modeling active CR transport processes only play a minor role in predicting gamma-ray emission from galaxies. We find that in starbursts, most of the CR energy is "calorimetrically" lost to hadronic interactions. In contrast, the gamma-ray emission deviates from this calorimetric property at low SFRs due to adiabatic losses, which cannot be identified in traditional one-zone models.

astro-ph.GA

Simulating cosmic ray physics on a moving mesh

We discuss new methods to integrate the cosmic ray (CR) evolution equations coupled to magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) on an unstructured moving mesh, as realised in the massively parallel AREPO code for cosmological simulations. We account for diffusive shock acceleration of CRs at resolved shocks and at supernova remnants in the interstellar medium (ISM), and follow the advective CR transport within the magnetised plasma, as well as anisotropic diffusive transport of CRs along the local magnetic field. CR losses are included in terms of Coulomb and hadronic interactions with the thermal plasma. We demonstrate the accuracy of our formalism for CR acceleration at shocks through simulations of plane-parallel shock tubes that are compared to newly derived exact solutions of the Riemann shock tube problem with CR acceleration. We find that the increased compressibility of the post-shock plasma due to the produced CRs decreases the shock speed. However, CR acceleration at spherically expanding blast waves does not significantly break the self-similarity of the Sedov-Taylor solution; the resulting modifications can be approximated by a suitably adjusted, but constant adiabatic index. In first applications of the new CR formalism to simulations of isolated galaxies and cosmic structure formation, we find that CRs add an important pressure component to the ISM that increases the vertical scale height of disk galaxies, and thus reduces the star formation rate. Strong external structure formation shocks inject CRs into the gas, but the relative pressure of this component decreases towards halo centres as adiabatic compression favours the thermal over the CR pressure.

astro-ph.GA

On the Cluster Physics of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich and X-ray Surveys IV: Characterizing Density and Pressure Clumping due to Infalling Substructures

Understanding the outskirts of galaxy clusters at the virial radius (R200) and beyond is critical for an accurate determination of cluster masses and to ensure unbiased cosmological parameter estimates from cluster surveys. This problem has drawn renewed interest due to recent determinations of gas mass fractions beyond R200, which appear to be considerably larger than the cosmic mean, and because the clusters' total Sunyaev-Zel'dovich flux receives a significant contribution from these regions. Here, we use a large suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to study the clumpiness of density and pressure and employ different variants of simulated physics, including radiative gas physics and thermal feedback by active galactic nuclei. We find that density and pressure clumping closely trace each other as a function of radius, but the bias on density remains on average < 20% within the virial radius R200. At larger radius, clumping increases steeply due to the continuous infall of coherent structures that have not yet passed the accretion shock. Density and pressure clumping increase with cluster mass and redshift, which probes on average dynamically younger objects that are still in the process of assembling. The angular power spectra of gas density and pressure show that the clumping signal is dominated by comparably large substructures with scales >R200/5, signaling the presence of gravitationally-driven "super-clumping". In contrast, the angular power spectrum of the dark matter (DM) shows an almost uniform size distribution due to unimpeded subhalos. The quadrupolar anisotropy dominates the signal and correlates well across different radii as a result of the prolateness of the DM potential. We provide a synopsis of the radial dependence of the clusters' non-equilibrium measures (kinetic pressure support, ellipticity, and clumping) that all increase sharply beyond R200.

astro-ph.CO

Introduction to extragalactic sources of very high-energy photons

The launch of the Fermi gamma-ray space telescope and the imaging air Cerenkov telescopes H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and VERITAS have substantially transformed our knowledge of gamma-ray sources in the last decade. The extragalactic gamma-ray sky is teeming with blazars, which are active galactic nuclei whose jet is directed at us. Additionally, there are radio galaxies, starburst and spiral galaxies, and gamma-ray bursts, albeit with smaller numbers. Galaxy clusters have not yet been observed in gamma rays. Here, I will introduce the different gamma-ray emission processes and review what they may tell us about these objects and the underlying acceleration mechanisms. Beyond the study of these fascinating objects, TeV gamma rays from blazars probe the integrated star formation history of the universe. Studies of TeV blazar spectra may provide us with insights into intergalactic magnetic fields or alternatively, may lead us to infer the existence of a novel mechanism that heats the intergalactic medium at late times (for redshifts z<3) and impacts the Lyman-alpha forest and late-time structure formation. The TeV gamma-ray emission may also allow us to probe fundamental physics such as the structure of space time.

astro-ph.HE

The physics and cosmology of TeV blazars in a nutshell

The extragalactic gamma-ray sky at TeV energies is dominated by blazars, a subclass of accreting super-massive black holes with powerful relativistic outflows directed at us. Only constituting a small fraction of the total power output of black holes, blazars were thought to have a minor impact on the universe at best. As we argue here, the opposite is true and the gamma-ray emission from TeV blazars can be thermalized via beam-plasma instabilities on cosmological scales with order unity efficiency, resulting in a potentially dramatic heating of the low-density intergalactic medium. Here, we review this novel heating mechanism and explore the consequences for the formation of structure in the universe. In particular, we show how it produces an inverted temperature-density relation of the intergalactic medium that is in agreement with observations of the Lyman-alpha forest. This suggests that blazar heating can potentially explain the paucity of dwarf galaxies in galactic halos and voids, and the bimodality of galaxy clusters. This also transforms our understanding of the evolution of blazars, their contribution to the extra-galactic gamma-ray background, and how their individual spectra can be used in constraining intergalactic magnetic fields.

astro-ph.HE

On the Cluster Physics of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich and X-ray Surveys III: Measurement Biases and Cosmological Evolution of Gas and Stellar Mass Fractions

Gas masses tightly correlate with the virial masses of galaxy clusters, allowing for a precise determination of cosmological parameters by means of large-scale X-ray surveys. However, according to recent Suzaku X-ray measurements, gas mass fractions, f_gas, appear to be considerably larger than the cosmic mean at the virial radius, R_200, questioning the accuracy of the cosmological parameter estimations. Here, we use a large suite of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations to study measurement biases of f_gas. We employ different variants of simulated physics, including radiative gas physics, star formation, and thermal feedback by active galactic nuclei. Computing the mass profiles in 48 angular cones, whose footprints partition the sphere, we find anisotropic gas and total mass distributions that imply an angular variance of f_gas at the level of 30%. This anisotropic distribution originates from the recent formation epoch of clusters and from the strong internal baryon-to-dark-matter density bias. In the most extreme cones, f_gas can be biased high by a factor of two at R_200 in massive clusters, thereby providing a potential explanation for high f_gas measurements by Suzaku. While projection lowers this factor, there are other measurement biases that may (partially) compensate. We find that at R_200, f_gas is biased high by 20% when assuming hydrostatic equilibrium masses, i.e., neglecting the kinetic pressure, and by another ~10-20% due to the presence of density clumping. At larger radii, both measurement biases increase dramatically. While the cluster sample variance of the true f_gas decreases to a level of 5% at R_200, the sample variance that includes both measurement biases remains fairly constant at the level of 10-20%. The constant redshift evolution of f_gas within R_500 for massive clusters is encouraging for using gas masses to derive cosmological parameters.

astro-ph.CO

Constraints on Cosmic Rays, Magnetic Fields, and Dark Matter from Gamma-Ray Observations of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies with VERITAS and Fermi

Observations of radio halos and relics in galaxy clusters indicate efficient electron acceleration. Protons should likewise be accelerated, suggesting that clusters may also be sources of very high-energy (VHE; E>100 GeV) gamma-ray emission. We report here on VHE gamma-ray observations of the Coma galaxy cluster with the VERITAS array of imaging Cherenkov telescopes, with complementing Fermi-LAT observations at GeV energies. No significant gamma-ray emission from the Coma cluster was detected. Integral flux upper limits at the 99% confidence level were measured to be on the order of (2-5)*10^-8\ ph. m^-2 s^-1 (VERITAS, >220 GeV} and ~2*10^-6 ph. m^-2 s^-1 (Fermi, 1-3 GeV), respectively. We use the gamma-ray upper limits to constrain CRs and magnetic fields in Coma. Using an analytical approach, the CR-to-thermal pressure ratio is constrained to be < 16% from VERITAS data and < 1.7% from Fermi data (averaged within the virial radius). These upper limits are starting to constrain the CR physics in self-consistent cosmological cluster simulations and cap the maximum CR acceleration efficiency at structure formation shocks to be <50%. Assuming that the radio-emitting electrons of the Coma halo result from hadronic CR interactions, the observations imply a lower limit on the central magnetic field in Coma of (2 - 5.5) muG, depending on the radial magnetic-field profile and on the gamma-ray spectral index. Since these values are below those inferred by Faraday rotation measurements in Coma (for most of the parameter space), this {renders} the hadronic model a very plausible explanation of the Coma radio halo. Finally, since galaxy clusters are dark-matter (DM) dominated, the VERITAS upper limits have been used to place constraints on the thermally-averaged product of the total self-annihilation cross section and the relative velocity of the DM particles, <\sigma v>. (abr.)

astro-ph.HE

Galactic winds driven by cosmic-ray streaming

Galactic winds are observed in many spiral galaxies with sizes from dwarfs up to the Milky Way, and they sometimes carry a mass in excess of that of newly formed stars by up to a factor of ten. Multiple driving processes of such winds have been proposed, including thermal pressure due to supernova-heating, UV radiation pressure on dust grains, or cosmic ray (CR) pressure. We here study wind formation due to CR physics using a numerical model that accounts for CR acceleration by supernovae, CR thermalization, and advective CR transport. In addition, we introduce a novel implementation of CR streaming relative to the rest frame of the gas. We find that CR streaming drives powerful and sustained winds in galaxies with virial masses M_200 < 10^{11} Msun. In dwarf galaxies (M_200 ~ 10^9 Msun) the winds reach a mass loading factor of ~5, expel ~60 per cent of the initial baryonic mass contained inside the halo's virial radius and suppress the star formation rate by a factor of ~5. In dwarfs, the winds are spherically symmetric while in larger galaxies the outflows transition to bi-conical morphologies that are aligned with the disc's angular momentum axis. We show that damping of Alfven waves excited by streaming CRs provides a means of heating the outflows to temperatures that scale with the square of the escape speed. In larger haloes (M_200 > 10^{11} Msun), CR streaming is able to drive fountain flows that excite turbulence. For halo masses M_200 > 10^{10} Msun, we predict an observable level of H-alpha and X-ray emission from the heated halo gas. We conclude that CR-driven winds should be crucial in suppressing and regulating the first epoch of galaxy formation, expelling a large fraction of baryons, and - by extension - aid in shaping the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function. They should then also be responsible for much of the metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium.

astro-ph.CO

Dark Matter decay and annihilation in the Local Universe: CLUES from Fermi

We present all-sky simulated Fermi maps of gamma-rays from dark matter decay and annihilation in the Local Universe. The dark matter distribution is obtained from a constrained cosmological simulation of the neighboring large-scale structure provided by the CLUES project. The dark matter fields of density and density squared are then taken as an input for the Fermi observation simulation tool to predict the gamma-ray photon counts that Fermi would detect in 5 years of all-sky survey for given dark matter models. Signal-to-noise sky maps have also been obtained by adopting the current Galactic and isotropic diffuse background models released by the Fermi collaboration. We point out the possibility for Fermi to detect a dark matter gamma-ray signal in local extragalactic structures. In particular, we conclude here that Fermi observations of nearby clusters (e.g. Virgo and Coma) and filaments are expected to give stronger constraints on decaying dark matter compared to previous studies. As an example, we find a significant signal-to-noise ratio in dark matter models with a decay rate fitting the positron excess as measured by PAMELA. This is the first time that dark matter filaments are shown to be promising targets for indirect detection of dark matter. On the other hand, the prospects for detectability of annihilating dark matter in local extragalactic structures are less optimistic even with extreme cross-sections. We make the dark matter density and density squared maps available online at http://www.clues-project.org/articles/darkmattermaps.html

astro-ph.HE

Observation of the Perseus galaxy cluster with the MAGIC telescopes

The MAGIC ground-based Imaging Cherenkov experiment observed the Perseus galaxy cluster for a total of about 25 hr between November and December 2008 in single telescope mode and for nearly 90 hr between October 2009 and February 2011 in stereoscopic mode. This survey represents the deepest observation of a cluster of galaxies at very high energies ever. It resulted in the detection of the central radio galaxy NGC 1275 and the head-tail radio galaxy IC 310. It also permits for the first time to put constraints on emission models predicting gamma-rays from cosmic ray acceleration in the cluster and to investigate dark matter scenarios. Here, we will report the latest MAGIC results on these studies.

astro-ph.HE

On the Cluster Physics of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Surveys I: The Influence of Feedback, Non-thermal Pressure and Cluster Shapes on Y-M Scaling Relations

The utility of large Sunyaev Zel'dovich (SZ) surveys for determining cosmological parameters from cluster abundances is limited by the theoretical uncertainties in the integrated SZ-flux-to-mass relation, Y-M. We explore how non-thermal pressure and the anisotropic shape of the gas distribution of the intracluster medium (ICM) impacts Y-M scaling using a suite of SPH simulations of the cosmic web. We contrast results for models with different treatments of entropy injection and transport, varying radiative cooling, star formation and accompanying supernova feedback, cosmic rays, and energetic feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN). We find that the gas kinetic-to-thermal pressure ratio from internal bulk motions depends on the cluster mass, and increases in the outer-cluster due to enhanced substructure, as does the asphericity of the ICM gas. With only a ~5-10% correction to projected (observable) ellipticities, we can infer the 3D ellipticities. Our simulated Y-M-slope roughly follows the self-similar prediction, except for a steepening due to a deficit of gas in lower mass clusters at low redshift in our AGN-feedback simulations. AGN feedback enhances slightly the overall Y-M-scatter, from ~11% to ~13%, a reflection of accretion history variations due to cluster merging. If we split the cluster system into lower, middle and upper bands of both P_kin/P_th and long-to-short axis ratio, we find a ~10% effect on Y-M. Identifying observable second parameters related to internal bulk flows and anisotropy for cluster-selection to minimize Y-M scatter in a "fundamental plane" would allow tighter cosmological parameter constraints.

astro-ph.CO