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Ka-Wah Wong

Publications and source records attributed to Ka-Wah Wong.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Lynx2030 Science Analysis Group: Final Report

The Lynx2030 Science Analysis Group (SAG) was convened to reassess the scientific goals and technical drivers of the Lynx mission concept amid a rapidly evolving astrophysics landscape. Building on the original Lynx Concept Study, the SAG examined how recent discoveries, emerging facilities, and advances in instrumentation influence the scientific opportunities for a next-generation flagship X-ray observatory. Through focused working groups, the SAG investigated the scientific impact of enhanced capabilities: (i) improved angular resolution, (ii) broader bandpass coverage, (iii) an enhanced microcalorimeter, (iv) new capabilities and observing modes, and (v) larger fields of view. Across a broad range of topics, from the formation of the first black holes and the evolution of galaxies to the baryon cycle, compact objects, stellar explosions, multi-messenger astrophysics, and the dynamic high-energy Universe, the SAG finds that the scientific motivation for a Lynx-class observatory remains compelling and, in many areas, has significantly strengthened over the past decade, prominently through JWST's discovery of the "Little Red Dots", likely massive accreting black holes in infant galaxies whose nature is fundamentally an X-ray question. This report shows that modest extensions beyond the original Lynx design reference mission can unlock transformative science while preserving the observatory's core architecture. Powerful current and future facilities such as Roman, Rubin, JWST, SKA, ngVLA, LISA, and NewAthena highlight the unique role a high-angular-resolution, high-throughput X-ray observatory would play in the multi-wavelength and multi-messenger ecosystem of the 2030s and beyond. The findings of the Lynx2030 SAG confirm Lynx's central vision: an unprecedented view of the hot and energetic Universe, enabling discoveries that will define high-energy astrophysics in the coming decades.

astro-ph.IM↗

Ardua: Unveiling the Baryon Cycle from Stars to the Cosmic Web

The circumgalactic medium (CGM) -- the multiphase gas reservoirs surrounding galaxies -- remains the least understood component of the baryon cycle governing galaxy growth, despite its central role in the Astro2020 Decadal Survey's priorities. Existing constraints come almost exclusively from pencil-beam absorption spectroscopy, leaving the spatial structure, kinematics, and phase interactions of CGM gas fundamentally unmapped. We present Ardua, a mission concept for NASA's ASTRA Initiative that combines wide-field far-ultraviolet spectroscopy with a Line Emission Mapper (LEM)-derived X-ray microcalorimeter instrument to obtain the first comprehensive emission maps spanning the full CGM temperature range, including cool neutral gas, ionized warm-hot phase gas, and the volume-filling hot corona. By observing more than 50 nearby galaxies comprehensively in the UV and X-ray, Ardua will test competing galaxy formation models, resolve multiphase gas flows and feedback-driven outflows, and extend baryon-cycle science to the intergalactic medium and the environments of exoplanet-hosting stars. Beyond its core CGM/IGM program, Ardua's wide-field, high-sensitivity instruments are designed to serve as a flexible community resource, supporting guest-investigator science across astrophysics. No planned or approved mission is designed to deliver this combined UV/X-ray survey capability.

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Prospects for AGN Studies with AXIS: AGN Fueling -- Resolving Hot Gas inside Bondi Radius of SMBHs

Hot gas around a supermassive black hole (SMBH) should be captured within the gravitational "sphere of influence", characterized by the Bondi radius. Deep Chandra observations have spatially resolved the Bondi radii of five nearby SMBHs that are believed to be accreting in hot accretion mode. Contrary to earlier hot accretion models that predicted a steep temperature increase within the Bondi radius, none of the resolved temperature profiles exhibit such an increase. The temperature inside the Bondi radius appears to be complex, indicative of a multi-temperature phase of hot gas with a cooler component at about 0.2-0.3 keV. The density profiles within the Bondi regions are shallow, suggesting the presence of strong outflows. These findings might be explained by recent realistic numerical simulations that suggest that large-scale accretion inside the Bondi radius can be chaotic, with cooler gas raining down in some directions and hotter gas outflowing in others. With an angular resolution similar to Chandra and a significantly larger collecting area, AXIS will collect enough photons to map the emerging accretion flow within and around the "sphere of influence" of a large sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs). AXIS will reveal transitions in the inflow that ultimately fuels the AGN, as well as outflows that provide feedback to the environment.

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NuSTAR Observation of the TeV-Detected Radio Galaxy 3C 264: Core Emission and the Hot Accretion Flow Contribution

3C 264 is one of the few FRI radio galaxies with detected TeV emission. It is a low-luminosity AGN (LLAGN) and is generally associated with a radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF). Earlier multiwavelength studies suggest that the X-ray emission originates from a jet. However, the possibility that the RIAF can significantly contribute to the X-rays cannot be ruled out. In particular, hard X-ray emission $\gtrsim$10 keV has never been detected, making it challenging to distinguish between X-ray models. Here we report a NuSTAR detection up to 25 keV from 3C 264. We also present subpixel deconvolved Chandra images to resolve jet emission down to ~0.2 arcsec from the center of the unresolved X-ray core. Together with a simultaneous Swift observation, we have constrained the dominant hard X-ray emission to be from its unresolved X-ray core, presumably in its quiescent state. We found evidence of a cutoff in the energy around 20 keV, indicating that at least some of the X-rays from the core can be attributed to the RIAF. The Comptonization model suggests an electron temperature of about 15 keV and an optical depth ranging between 4 and 7, following the universality of coronal properties of black hole accretion. The cutoff energy or electron temperature of 3C 264 is the lowest among those of other LLAGNs. The detected hard X-ray emission is at least an order of magnitude higher than that predicted by synchrotron self-Compton models introduced to explain $γ$-ray and TeV emission, suggesting that the synchrotron electrons might be accelerated to higher energies than previously thought.

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The NuSTAR View of Perseus: the ICM and a Peculiar Hard Excess

As the brightest galaxy cluster in the X-ray sky, Perseus is an excellent target for studying the Intracluster Medium (ICM), but until recently, its active galactic nucleus (AGN) made studies of the diffuse emission near its center nearly impossible to accomplish with NuSTAR due to the extended wings of NuSTAR's PSF. The development of a new open source software package -- nucrossarf -- now allows the contribution from point and diffuse sources to be modeled so that scattered light from the AGN can be accounted for. Using this technique, we present an analysis of diffuse hard X-ray (3-25keV) emission from the ICM using three archival NuSTAR observations of the Perseus cluster. We find a ~10% excess of emission beyond 20keV not describable by purely thermal models. By performing similar analyses of AGN in archival observations, we have characterized the systematic uncertainty of the modeled AGN contribution to be 3.4%. However, in order to explain the excess, the total scattered AGN emission would have to be 39% stronger than we have measured. We test physical explanations for the excess, such as diffuse inverse Compton emission potentially originating from the radio mini-halo, but we determine that none of the models are compelling. An upper limit on inverse Compton flux ($\leq1.5\times10^{-11}$erg s$^{-1}$cm$^{-2}$) and a corresponding lower limit on global magnetic field strength ($\geq 0.35~μG$) is derived. We discuss the potential origin and implications of the excess and present our characterization of the nucrossarf systematic uncertainty, which should be useful for future work.

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Chandra and HST Snapshots of Fossil System Progenitors

The search for the progenitors to today's fossil galaxy systems has been restricted to N-body simulations until recently, where 12 fossil progenitors were identified in the CASSOWARY catalog of strong lensing systems. All 12 systems lie in the predicted redshift range for finding fossils in mid brightest group galaxy (BGG) assembly, and all show complex merging environments at their centers. None of these progenitors had archival X-ray data, and many were lacking high resolution optical data making precision photometry extremely difficult. Here, we present Chandra and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) snapshots of eight of these strong lensing fossil progenitors at varying stages of evolution. We find that our lensing progenitors exhibit higher than expected X-ray luminosities and temperatures consistent with previously observed non-lensing fossil systems. More precise galaxy luminosity functions are generated which strengthen past claims that progenitors are the transition phase between non-fossils and fossils. We also find evidence suggesting that the majority of differences between fossils and non-fossils lie in their BGGs and that fossil systems may themselves be a phase of galaxy system evolution and not a separate class of object.

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The multiwavelength spectrum of NGC 3115: Hot accretion flow properties

NGC 3115 is the nearest galaxy hosting a billion solar mass black hole and is also a low-luminosity active galactic nucleus (LLAGN). X-ray observations of this LLAGN are able to spatially resolve the hot gas within the sphere of gravitational influence of the supermassive black hole. These observations make NGC 3115 an important testbed for black hole accretion theory in galactic nuclei since they constrain the outer boundary conditions of the hot accretion flow. We present a compilation of the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) of the nucleus of NGC 3115 from radio to X-rays. We report the results from modeling the observed SED with radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) models. The radio emission can be well-explained by synchrotron emission from the RIAF without the need for contribution from a relativistic jet. We obtain a tight constraint on the RIAF density profile, $ρ(r) \propto r^{-0.73_{-0.02} ^{+0.01}}$, implying that mass-loss through subrelativistic outflows from the RIAF is significant. The lower frequency radio observation requires the synchrotron emission from a nonthermal electron population in the RIAF, similarly to Sgr A*.

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Using Strong Gravitational Lensing to Identify Fossil Group Progenitors

Fossil galaxy systems are classically thought to be the end result of galaxy group/cluster evolution, as galaxies experiencing dynamical friction sink to the center of the group potential and merge into a single, giant elliptical that dominates the rest of the members in both mass and luminosity. Most fossil systems discovered lie within $z < 0.2$, which leads to the question: what were these systems' progenitors? Such progenitors are expected to have imminent or ongoing major merging near the brightest group galaxy (BGG) that, when concluded, will meet the fossil criteria within the look back time. Since strong gravitational lensing preferentially selects groups merging along the line of sight, or systems with a high mass concentration like fossil systems, we searched the CASSOWARY survey of strong lensing events with the goal of determining if lensing systems have any predisposition to being fossil systems or progenitors. We find that $\sim$13% of lensing groups are identified as traditional fossils while only $\sim$3% of non-lensing control groups are. We also find that $\sim$23% of lensing systems are traditional fossil progenitors compared to $\sim$17% for the control sample. Our findings show that strong lensing systems are more likely to be fossil/pre-fossil systems than comparable non-lensing systems. Cumulative galaxy luminosity functions of the lensing and non-lensing groups also indicate a possible, fundamental difference between strong lensing and non-lensing systems' galaxy populations with lensing systems housing a greater number of bright galaxies even in the outskirts of groups.

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Hard X-ray Emission from the M87 AGN Detected with NuSTAR

M87 hosts a 3-6 billion solar mass black hole with a remarkable relativistic jet that has been regularly monitored in radio to TeV bands. However, hard X-ray emission \gtrsim 10keV, which would be expected to primarily come from the jet or the accretion flow, had never been detected from its unresolved X-ray core. We report NuSTAR detection up to 40 keV from the the central regions of M87. Together with simultaneous Chandra observations, we have constrained the dominant hard X-ray emission to be from its unresolved X-ray core, presumably in its quiescent state. The core spectrum is well fitted by a power law with photon index Gamma=2.11 (+0.15 -0.11). The measured flux density at 40 keV is consistent with a jet origin, although emission from the advection-dominated accretion flow cannot be completely ruled out. The detected hard X-ray emission is significantly lower than that predicted by synchrotron self-Compton models introduced to explain emission above a GeV.

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Probing WHIM around Galaxy Clusters with Fast Radio Bursts and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect

We propose a new method to probe the Warm Hot Intergalactic Medium (WHIM) beyond the virial radius (R_200) of a cluster of galaxies, where X-ray observations are not easily achievable. In this method, we use dispersion measures (DMs) of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) that appear behind the cluster and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect towards the cluster. The DMs reflect the density of the intracluster medium (ICM) including the WHIM. If we observe a sufficient number of FRBs in the direction of the cluster, we can derive the density profile from the DMs. Similarly, we can derive the pressure profile from the SZ effect. By combining the density and the pressure profiles, the temperature profile can be obtained. Based on mock observations of nearby clusters, we find that the density of the WHIM can be determined even at > 2 R_200 from the cluster center when FRB observations with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) become available. The temperature can be derived out to r~ 1.5 R_200, and the radius is limited by the current sensitivity of SZ observations.

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Suzaku X-ray Observations of the Nearest Non-Cool Core Cluster, Antlia: Dynamically Young but with Remarkably Relaxed Outskirts

We present the results of seven Suzaku mosaic observations (>200 ks in total) of the nearest non-cool core cluster, the Antlia Cluster (or Group), beyond its degree-scale virial radius in its eastern direction. The temperature is consistent with the scaled profiles of many other clusters. Its pressure follows the universal profile. The density slope in its outskirts is significantly steeper than that of the nearest cool core cluster (Virgo) with a similar temperature as Antlia, but shallower than those of the massive clusters. The entropy increases all the way out to R_200, which is consistent in value with the baseline model predicted by a gravity heating-only mechanism in the outskirts. Antlia is quite relaxed in this direction. However, the entropy inside ~R_500 is significantly higher than the baseline model, which is similar to many other nearby low mass clusters or groups. The enclosed gas-mass fraction does not exceed the cosmic value out to 1.3R_200. Thus, there is no evidence of significant gas clumping, electron-ion non-equipartition, or departure from the hydrostatic equilibrium approximation that are suggested to explain the entropy and gas fraction anomalies found in the outskirts of some massive clusters. We also present scaling relations for the gas fraction (f_gas,200), entropy (K_200), and temperature (T_500) using 22 groups and clusters with published data in the literature. The enclosed baryon fraction at R_200 is broadly consistent with the cosmic value. The power law slope of the K_200-T_500 relation is 0.638+/-0.205. The entropy deficit at R_200 cannot be fully accounted for by the bias or deviation in the gas fraction.

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The SLUGGS Survey: HST/ACS Mosaic Imaging of the NGC 3115 Globular Cluster System

We present HST/ACS $g$ and $z$ photometry and half-light radii $R_{\rm h}$ measurements of 360 globular cluster (GC) candidates around the nearby S0 galaxy NGC 3115. We also include Subaru/Suprime-Cam $g$, $r$, and $i$ photometry of 421 additional candidates. The well-established color bimodality of the GC system is obvious in the HST/ACS photometry. We find evidence for a "blue tilt" in the blue GCs, wherein the blue GCs get redder as luminosity increases, indicative of a mass-metallicity relationship. We find a color gradient in both the red and blue subpopulations, with each group of clusters becoming bluer at larger distances from NGC 3115. The gradient is of similar strength in both subpopulations, but is monotonic and more significant for the blue clusters. On average, the blue clusters have ~10% larger $R_{\rm h}$ than the red clusters. This average difference is less than is typically observed for early-type galaxies but does match that measured in the literature for M104, suggesting that morphology and inclination may affect the measured size difference between the red and blue clusters. However, the scatter on the $R_{\rm h}$ measurements is large. We also identify 31 clusters more extended than typical GCs, which we consider ultra-compact dwarf (UCD) candidates. Many of these objects are fainter than typical UCDs. While it is likely that a significant number will be background contaminants, six of these UCD candidates are spectroscopically confirmed. To explore low-mass X-ray binaries in the GC system, we match our ACS and Suprime-Cam detections to corresponding Chandra X-ray sources. We identify 45 X-ray - GC matches, 16 among the blue subpopulation and 29 among the red subpopulation. These X-ray/GC coincidence fractions are larger than is typical for most GC systems, probably due to the increased depth of the X-ray data compared to previous studies of GC systems.

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Modeling Hot Gas Flow in the Low-Luminosity Active Galactic Nucleus of NGC3115

Based on the dynamical black hole (BH) mass estimates, NGC3115 hosts the closest billion solar mass BH. Deep studies of the center revealed a very underluminous active galactic nucleus (AGN) immersed in an old massive nuclear star cluster. Recent $1$~Ms \textit{Chandra} X-ray visionary project observations of the NGC3115 nucleus resolved hot tenuous gas, which fuels the AGN. In this paper we connect the processes in the nuclear star cluster with the feeding of the supermassive BH. We model the hot gas flow sustained by the injection of matter and energy from the stars and supernova explosions. We incorporate electron heat conduction as the small-scale feedback mechanism, the gravitational pull of the stellar mass, cooling, and Coulomb collisions. Fitting simulated X-ray emission to the spatially and spectrally resolved observed data, we find the best-fitting solutions with $χ^2/dof=1.00$ for $dof=236$ both with and without conduction. The radial modeling favors a low BH mass $<1.3\times10^{9}M_\odot$. The best-fitting supernova rate and the best-fitting mass injection rate are consistent with their expected values. The stagnation point is at $r_{\rm st}\lesssim1$arcsec, so that most of gas, including the gas at a Bondi radius $r_B=2-4$arcsec, outflows from the region. We put an upper limit on the accretion rate at $2\times10^{-3}M_\odot{\rm yr}^{-1}$. We find a shallow density profile $n\propto r^{-β}$ with $β\approx1$ over a large dynamic range. This density profile is determined in the feeding region $0.5-10$arcsec as an interplay of four processes and effects: (1) the radius-dependent mass injection, (2) the effect of the galactic gravitational potential, (3) the accretion flow onset at $r\lesssim1$arcsec, and (4) the outflow at $r\gtrsim1$arcsec. The gas temperature is close to the virial temperature $T_v$ at any radius.

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The Megasecond Chandra XVP Observation of NGC 3115: Witnessing the Flow of Hot Gas within the Bondi Radius

Observational confirmation of hot accretion model predictions has been hindered by the challenge to resolve spatially the Bondi radii of black holes with X-ray telescopes. Here, we use the Megasecond Chandra X-ray Visionary Project (XVP) observation of the NGC~3115 supermassive black hole to place the first direct observational constraints on the spatially and spectroscopically resolved structures of the X-ray emitting gas inside the Bondi radius of a black hole. We measured temperature and density profiles of the hot gas from a fraction out to tens of the Bondi radius (R_B = 2.4-4.8 arcsec = 112-224 pc). The projected temperature jumps significantly from ~0.3 keV beyond 5 arcsec to ~0.7 keV within ~4-5 arcsec, but then abruptly drops back to ~0.3 keV within ~3 arcsec. This is contrary to the expectation that the temperature should rise toward the center for a radiatively inefficient accretion flow. A hotter thermal component of ~1 keV inside 3 arcsec (~150 pc) is revealed using a two component thermal model, with the cooler ~0.3 keV thermal component dominating the spectra. We argue that the softer emission comes from diffuse gas physically located within $\sim 150$~pc from the black hole. The density profile is broadly consistent with rho ~ r^{-1} within the Bondi radius for either the single temperature or the two-temperature model. The X-ray data alone with physical reasoning argue against the absence of a black hole, supporting that we are witnessing the onset of the gravitational influence of the supermassive black hole.

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Feeding and Small-scale Feedback in Low-Luminosity AGNs

The unmatched X-ray resolution of Chandra allows probing the gas flow near quiescent supermassive black holes (BHs). The radius of BH gravitational influence on gas, called the Bondi radius, is resolved in Sgr A* and NGC 3115. Shallow accretion flow density profiles n \sim r^{-beta} with beta=0.7-1.0 were found for Sgr A* and NGC 3115 with the help of Chandra. We construct self-consistent models with gas feeding and dynamics from near the Bondi radius to the event horizon to explain the observations. Gas is mainly supplied to the region by hot colliding stellar winds. Small-scale feedback such as conduction effectively flattens the density profile from steep beta=1.5 in a Bondi flow. We further constrain density and temperature profiles using the observed radio/sub-mm radiation emitted near the event horizon. We discuss the present state of our numerical model and its qualitative features, such as the role of the galactic gravitational potential and the random motion of wind-emitting stars.

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Resolving the Bondi Accretion Flow toward the Supermassive Black Hole of NGC 3115 with Chandra

Gas undergoing Bondi accretion onto a supermassive black hole (SMBH) becomes hotter toward smaller radii. We searched for this signature with a Chandra observation of the hot gas in NGC 3115, which optical observations show has a very massive SMBH. Our analysis suggests that we are resolving, for the first time, the accretion flow within the Bondi radius of an SMBH. We show that the temperature is rising toward the galaxy center as expected in all accretion models in which the black hole is gravitationally capturing the ambient gas. There is no hard central point source that could cause such an apparent rise in temperature. The data support that the Bondi radius is at about 4 arcsec-5 arcsec (188-235 pc), suggesting an SMBH of 2 x 10^9 M_sun that is consistent with the upper end of the optical results. The density profile within the Bondi radius has a power-law index of 1.03^{+0.23}_{-0.21} which is consistent with gas in transition from the ambient medium and the accretion flow. The accretion rate at the Bondi radius is determined to be {\dot M}_B = 2.2 x 10^{-2} M_sun yr^{-1}. Thus, the accretion luminosity with 10% radiative efficiency at the Bondi radius (10^{44} erg s^{-1}) is about six orders of magnitude higher than the upper limit of the X-ray luminosity of the nucleus.

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X-ray Signatures of Non-Equilibrium Ionization Effects in Galaxy Cluster Accretion Shock Regions

The densities in the outer regions of clusters of galaxies are very low, and the collisional timescales are very long. As a result, heavy elements will be under-ionized after they have passed through the accretion shock. We have studied systematically the effects of non-equilibrium ionization for relaxed clusters in the LambdaCDM cosmology using one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. We found that non-equilibrium ionization effects do not depend on cluster mass but depend strongly on redshift which can be understood by self-similar scaling arguments. The effects are stronger for clusters at lower redshifts. We present X-ray signatures such as surface brightness profiles and emission lines in detail for a massive cluster at low redshift. In general, soft emission (0.3-1.0 keV) is enhanced significantly by under-ionization, and the enhancement can be nearly an order of magnitude near the shock radius. The most prominent non-equilibrium ionization signature we found is the O VII and O VIII line ratio. The ratios for non-equilibrium ionization and collisional ionization equilibrium models are different by more than an order of magnitude at radii beyond half of the shock radius. These non-equilibrium ionization signatures are equally strong for models with different non-adiabatic shock electron heating efficiencies. We have also calculated the detectability of the O VII and O VIII lines with the future International X-ray Observatory (IXO). Depending on the line ratio measured, we conclude that an exposure of ~130-380 ksec on a moderate-redshift, massive regular cluster with the X-ray Microcalorimeter Spectrometer (XMS) on the IXO will be sufficient to provide a strong test for the non-equilibrium ionization model.

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Effects of the Non-Equipartition of Electrons and Ions in the Outskirts of Relaxed Galaxy Clusters

(abridged) We have studied the effects of electron-ion non-equipartition in the outer regions of relaxed clusters for a wide range of masses in the \LambdaCDM cosmology using one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. The effects of the non-adiabatic electron heating efficiency, β, on the degree of non-equipartition are also studied. Using the gas fraction f_gas = 0.17 (which is the upper limit for a cluster), we give a conservative lower limit of the non-equipartition effect on clusters. Beyond the virial radius, the non-equipartition effect depends rather strongly on β, and such a strong dependence at the shock radius can be used to distinguish shock heating models or constrain the shock heating efficiency of electrons. We have also studied systematically the signatures of non-equipartition on X-ray and SZ observables. We have calculated the effect of non-equipartition on the projected temperature and X-ray surface brightness profiles using the MEKAL emission model. The non-equipartition effect can introduce a ~10% bias in the projected temperature at R_vir for a wide range of β. We also found that the effect of non-equipartition on the projected temperature profiles can be enhanced by increasing metallicity. We found that for our model in the \LambdaCDM Universe, the integrated SZ bias, Y_{non-eq}/Y_{eq}, evolves slightly (at a percentage level) with redshift, which is in contrast to the self-similar model in the Einstein-de Sitter Universe. This may introduce biases in cosmological studies using the f_gas technique. We discussed briefly whether the equipartition and non-equipartition models near the shock region can be distinguished by future radio observations with, for example, ALMA.

astro-ph.CO↗