arXiv subjects

Yutaka Fujita

Publications and source records attributed to Yutaka Fujita.

143 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2001

Nonthermal Emission from Accreting and Merging Clusters of Galaxies

We compare the nonthermal emission from clusters of galaxies undergoing minor mergers (``accreting'' clusters) and major mergers (``merging'' clusters). For accreting clusters, the radial distribution of the nonthermal emission in the clusters is also calculated. The relativistic electrons, which are the origin of the nonthermal radiation through inverse Compton (IC) and synchrotron mission, are assumed to be accelerated at shocks produced by accretion or mergers. We estimate the typical accretion rate and merger probability according to a hierarchical clustering model. We show that the total luminosity of IC emission from accreting and merging clusters are similar. On the other hand, the luminosity of synchrotron radio emission of the former is much smaller than that of the latter. We show that about 10% of clusters at z~0 should have hard X-ray and radio nonthermal emissions due to their last major merger, which are comparable to or dominate those due to ongoing accretion. Moreover, 20-40% of clusters should have significant EUV emission due to their last merger. We also investigate the case where the criterion of mergers is relaxed. If we extend the definition of a merger to an increase in the mass of the larger subcluster by at least 10% of its initial mass, about 20-30% of clusters at z~0 should have hard X-ray and radio nonthermal emissions due to the merger even in a low density universe. We compare the results with observations. We find that the observed EUV emission from clusters is not attributed to accretion. If the diffuse radio emission observed in clusters is synchrotron emission from electrons accelerated via accretion or merging, the magnetic fields of clusters are generally as small as ~0.1 mu G.

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arXiv2001

Heating of Intracluster Gas by Jet Activities of AGN: Is the "Preheating" Scenario Realistic?

We investigate the non-gravitational heating of hot gas in clusters of galaxies (intracluster medium; ICM) on the assumption that the gas is heated well before cluster formation ('preheating'). We examine the jet activities of radio galaxies as the sources of excess energy in ICM, and the deformation of the cosmic microwave background (the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect) by hot electrons produced at the jet terminal shocks. We show that the observed excess entropy of ICM and {\sl COBE/FIRAS} upper limit for the Compton $y$-parameter are compatible with each other only when the heating by the jets occurred at relatively small redshift ($z\lesssim 3$). Since this result contradicts the assumption of 'preheating', it suggests that the heating occurred simultaneously with or after cluster formation.

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arXiv2001

Effects of Formation Epoch Distribution on X-Ray Luminosity and Temperature Functions of Galaxy Clusters

We investigate statistical properties of galaxy clusters in the context of hierarchical clustering scenario, taking account of their formation epoch distribution, motivated by the recent finding by Fujita and Takahara that X-ray clusters form a fundamental plane, where the mass and formation epoch are regarded as two independent parameters. Using the formalism which discriminates between major merger and accretion, the epoch of a cluster formation is identified with that of the last major merger. Since tiny mass accretion after the formation does not much affect the core structure of clusters, the properties of X-ray emission from clusters are determined by the total mass and density at their formation time. Under these assumptions, we calculate X-ray luminosity and temperature functions of galaxy clusters. We find that the behavior of luminosity function is different from the model which does not take account of formation epoch distribution, while the behavior of temperature function is not much changed. In our model, luminosity function is shifted to a higher luminosity and shows no significant evolution up to $z \sim 1$, independent of cosmological models. The clusters are populated on the temperature-luminosity plane with a finite dispersion. Since the simple scaling model in which the gas temperature is equal to the virial temperature fails to reproduce the observed luminosity-temperature relation, we also consider a model which takes the effects of preheating into account. The preheating model reproduces the observations much better.

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arXiv2001

Heating of X-Ray Hot Gas in Groups by Blast Waves

In order to find the conditions which determine whether X-Ray hot gas in galaxy groups (intragroup gas; IGG) is heated externally or internally, we investigate the evolution of blast waves in galaxy groups growing on a hierarchical clustering scenario. We find that the blast waves driven by quasars are confined in groups and heat the IGG internally at z<~ 1. However, at z>~ 1, they expel the IGG from groups; the expelled gas may fall back into the groups later as externally heated gas. Moreover, this may explain the observed low metal abundance of IGG. For blast waves driven by strong starbursts, the shift of the fate of blast waves occurs at z~ 3. On the other hand, although blast waves driven by weak starbursts do not expel IGG from groups, the heating efficiency decreases at z>~ 3 because of radiative cooling. It will be useful to compare these results with XMM-Newton observations.

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arXiv2000

Ram-Pressure Stripping of Galaxies in High-Redshift Clusters and Influence of ICM Heating

We have investigated the ram-pressure stripping of disk galaxies in clusters at various redshifts and in cluster progenitors; the clusters grow up on a hierarchical clustering scenario. We consider a radially infalling galaxy whose initial position and velocity are given by a spherical collapse model of structure formation. Moreover, since observations show that the intracluster medium (ICM) of nearby clusters is non-gravitationally heated, we study the effect of the non-gravitational heating on the ram-pressure stripping. For a given redshift, we find that ram-pressure stripping has more influence on galaxies in more massive clusters. On the other hand, for a given mass, it has more influence on galaxies in the clusters at higher redshifts. In particular, we predict that in rich clusters at z ~> 1, most of the galaxies are affected by the ram-pressure stripping. While the non-gravitational heating significantly reduces the influence of ram-pressure stripping on galaxies in clusters with mass smaller than 1-5 10^13 M_sun, it does not affect the influence in richer clusters. If the ICM is heated non-gravitationally at z>>1, ram-pressure stripping does not occur at z ~ 1-2 in the progenitors of clusters observed at 0 ~< z ~< 0.5, because the heat makes the ICM fraction of the cluster progenitors small. On the other hand, if the ICM is heated non-gravitationally at z ~ 0 for the first time, the ram-pressure stripping occurs even at z ~ 3. We compare the results with the observations of galaxies in clusters at various redshifts.

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arXiv2000

The Maximum Effect of Thermal Instability on Galactic Outflows

We have investigated steady, radial gas outflows (or winds) from galaxies and the development of thermal instability in the hot gas. In order to see the maximum influence of the instability on the global structure of the galactic outflows, we study inhomogeneous comoving flows and the non-linear fate of the fluctuations in the flows. We compare the results with solutions for homogeneous flows. In the case of supersonic flows, the global structure of inhomogeneous flows is not much different from that of homogeneous flows. However, detailed investigation shows that the average density of inhomogeneous flows decreases faster than that of homogeneous flows, because local thermal instability removes overdense regions in the inhomogeneous flows and reduces the mass flux. We also find that when the gravity of a galaxy is strong, the cold clouds formed from the removed gas are distributed in the galactic halo. In the case of subsonic flows, the form of inhomogeneous flows is different from that of homogeneous flows near the regions where the flows terminate. The density rise appearing near the regions where the homogeneous flows terminate is not seen in the inhomogeneous flows because the local thermal instability decreases the mass flux. The cold clouds formed through thermal instability in the inhomogeneous flow almost all coast to the same maximum radius.

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arXiv2000

The Detection Rate of Molecular Gas in Elliptical Galaxies: Constraints on Galaxy Formation Theories

In order to constrain parameters in galaxy formation theories, especially those for a star formation process, we investigate cold gas in elliptical galaxies. We calculate the detection rate of cold gas in them using a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation and compare it with observations. We show that the model with a long star formation time-scale (~20 Gyr) is inconsistent with observations. Thus, some mechanisms of reducing the mass of interstellar medium, such as the consumption of molecular gas by star formation and/or reheating from supernovae, are certainly effective in galaxies. Our model predicts that star formation induced when galaxies in a halo collide each other reduces the cold gas left until the present. However, we find that the reduction through random collisions of satellite (non-central) galaxies in mean free time-scale in a halo is not required to explain the observations. This may imply that the collisions and mergers between satellite galaxies do not occur so often in clusters or that they do not stimulate the star formation activity as much as the simple collision model we adopted. For cD galaxies, the predicted detection rate of cold gas is consistent with observations as long as the transformation of hot gas into cold gas is prevented in halos whose circular velocities are larger than 500 km s^-1. Moreover, we find that the cold gas brought into cDs through captures of gas-rich galaxies is little. We also show that the fraction of galaxies with observable cold gas should be small for cluster ellipticals in comparison with that for field ellipticals.

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arXiv2000

The Variation of Gas Mass Distribution in Galaxy Clusters: Effects of Preheating and Shocks

We investigate the origin of the variation of the gas mass fraction in the core of galaxy clusters, which was indicated by our work on the X-ray fundamental plane. The adopted model supposes that the gas distribution characterized by the slope parameter is related to the preheated temperature. Comparison with observations of relatively hot (~> 3 keV) and low redshift clusters suggests that the preheated temperature is about 0.5-2 keV, which is higher than expected from the conventional galactic wind model and possibly suggests the need for additional heating such as quasars or gravitational heating on the largest scales at high redshift. The dispersion of the preheated temperature may be attributed to the gravitational heating in subclusters. We calculate the central gas fraction of a cluster from the gas distribution, assuming that the global gas mass fraction is constant within a virial radius at the time of the cluster collapse. We find that the central gas density thus calculated is in good agreement with the observed one, which suggests that the variation of gas mass fraction in cluster cores appears to be explained by breaking the self-similarity in clusters due to preheated gas. We also find that this model does not change major conclusions on the fundamental plane and its cosmological implications obtained in previous papers, which strongly suggests that not only for the dark halo but also for the intracluster gas the core structure preserves information about the cluster formation.

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arXiv1999

Global Relationships among Physical Properties of Galaxy Cluster Cores

Using X-ray data, we investigate interrelations between gas density rho_0, virial density rho_vir, core radius R, temperature T, entropy S_gas, and metal abundance Z in the core region of clusters of galaxies. First, we confirm that fundamental relations among rho_0, R, and T found by Fujita and Takahara are reproduced by another data catalogue. Second, we find that, when clusters have two components in their surface brightness distribution, the inner components also satisfy the same fundamental relations on the assumption that the average temperature of the inner component is the same as that of the outer component. These results strengthen our interpretation that clusters form a two parameter family in terms of mass and rho_vir; larger rho_vir corresponds to earlier formation epoch. We argue that the inner components represent distinct dark matter components which collapsed ahead of the outer components. Third, we also find a tight relation between S_gas and rho_vir both for the outer and inner components; S_gas is smaller for larger rho_vir but is larger than that produced through gravitational collapse alone for larger rho_vir. Although radiative cooling affects the thermal evolution, the tight relationship discovered suggests the existence of stable heating sources or stable energy transmission mechanisms. Finally, we find that the iron abundance at the centers of clusters is correlated with rho_vir for the inner components. This implies that iron produced by Type Ia supernovae has more accumulated for clusters formed earlier. We briefly discuss the implications of these findings.

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arXiv1999

CO (J=1-0) Observation of the cD Galaxy of AWM7: Constraints on the Evaporation of Molecular Gas

We have searched for molecular gas in the cD galaxy of a poor cluster of galaxies AWM7 using Nobeyama 45 m telescope. We do not detect CO emission in the galaxy. Our limit of molecular gas in the inner 7.5 kpc is M_H_2< 4 x 10^8 M_sun. We estimate the total mass of molecular gas left in the cD galaxy when the gas deposited by a cooling flow once becomes molecular gas and the molecular gas is continuously evaporated by the ambient hot gas. The observational limit of molecular gas requires f >~ 10^{-3}, where f is the ratio of the heat conduction rate to that of Spitzer. However, this contradicts recent X-ray observations showing f<10^{-5}. Thus, the non-detection of CO cannot be explained by the evaporation, and most of the cooled gas predicted by a cooling flow model may not change into molecular gas in the cD galaxy. Moreover, we estimate the evaporation time of molecular clouds brought to a cD galaxy through the capture of gas-rich galaxies and find that these clouds should not be evaporated if f <~ 10^{-3}-10^{-4}. Therefore, the non-detection of CO in a cD galaxy could constrain the total mass of the molecular clouds brought into it.

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arXiv1999

The X-ray Fundamental Plane and $L_X-T$ Relation of Clusters of Galaxies

We analyze the relations among central gas density, core radius, and temperature of X-ray clusters by plotting the observational data in the three-dimensional ($\log ρ_0$, $\log R$, and $\log T$) space and find that the data lie on a 'fundamental plane'. Its existence implies that the clusters form a two-parameter family. The data on the plane still has a correlation and form a band on the plane. The observed relation $L_{\rm X} \propto T^3$ turns out to be the cross section of the band perpendicular to the major axis, while the major axis is found to describe the virial density. We discuss implications of this two-parameter family nature of X-ray clusters.

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arXiv1999

Cosmological Implications of the Fundamental Relations of X-ray Clusters

Based on the two-parameter family nature of X-ray clusters of galaxies obtained in a separate paper, we discuss the formation history of clusters and cosmological parameters of the universe. Utilizing the spherical collapse model of cluster formation, and assuming that the cluster X-ray core radius is proportional to the virial radius at the time of the cluster collapse, the observed relations among the density, radius, and temperature of clusters imply that cluster formation occurs in a wide range of redshift. The observed relations favor the low-density universe. Moreover, we find that the model of $n\sim -1$ is preferable.

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arXiv1999

Is Galactic Star Formation Activity Increased During Cluster Mergers?

We have investigated the effect of pressure from intracluster medium (ICM) on disk galaxies in merging clusters. The ram-pressure on the galaxies rapidly increases when two clusters collide. This leads to stripping of the interstellar medium (ISM) and decrease of star formation rate (SFR) of the galaxies. On the other hand, the increase of SFR caused by compression of ISM is less significant. Thus, cluster merger does not trigger, but weakens star formation activity of the galaxies. In the central region of the colliding clusters, blue galaxies with high velocity should exist, although most of galaxies become red. Following the decrease of blue galaxy fraction in the clusters, the fraction of post-starburst galaxies increases. After merger, many galaxies in the cluster restart star formation activity and the segregation of blue and red galaxies becomes prominent.

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arXiv1998

Effects of Ram-Pressure from Intracluster Medium on the Star Formation Rate of Disk Galaxies in Clusters of Galaxies

Using a simple model of molecular cloud evolution, we have quantitatively estimated the change of star formation rate (SFR) of a disk galaxy falling radially into the potential well of a cluster of galaxies. The SFR is affected by the ram-pressure from the intracluster medium (ICM). As the galaxy approaches the cluster center, the SFR increases to twice the initial value, at most, in a cluster with high gas density and deep potential well, or with a central pressure of $\sim 10^{-2} cm^{-3} keV$ because the ram-pressure compresses the molecular gas of the galaxy. However, this increase does not affect the color of the galaxy significantly. Further into the central region of the cluster ($\lesssim 1$ Mpc from the center), the SFR of the disk component drops rapidly due to the effect of ram-pressure stripping. This makes the color of the galaxy redder and makes the disk dark. These effects may explain the observed color, morphology distribution and evolution of galaxies in high-redshift clusters. By contrast, in a cluster with low gas density and shallow potential well, or the central pressure of $\sim 10^{-3} cm^{-3} keV$, the SFR of a radially infalling galaxy changes less significantly, because neither ram-pressure compression nor stripping is effective. Therefore, the color of galaxies in poor clusters is as blue as that of field galaxies, if other environmental effects such as galaxy-galaxy interaction are not effective. The predictions of the model are compared with observations.

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arXiv1998

Quantitative Estimates of Environmental Effects on the Star Formation Rate of Disk Galaxies in Clusters of Galaxies

A simple model is constructed to evaluate the change of star formation rate of a disk galaxy due to environmental effects in clusters of galaxies. Three effects, (1) tidal force from the potential well of the cluster, (2) increase of external pressure when the galaxy plows into the intracluster medium, (3) high-speed encounters between galaxies, are investigated. General analysis indicates that the star formation rate increases significantly when the pressure of molecular clouds rises above $\sim 3\times 10^5 cm^{-3} K$ in $\sim 10^8$ yr. The tidal force from the potential well of the cluster increases pressures of molecular clouds in a disk galaxy infalling towards the cluster center. Before the galaxy reaches the cluster center, the star formation rate reaches a maximum. The peak is three to four times larger than the initial value. If this is the main mechanism of the Butcher-Oemler effect, blue galaxies are expected to be located within $\sim 300$ kpc from the center of the cluster. However this prediction is inconsistent with the recent observations. The increase of external pressure when the galaxy plows into the intracluster medium does not change star formation rate of a disk galaxy significantly. The velocity perturbation induced by a single high-speed encounter between galaxies is too small to affect star formation rate of a disk galaxy, while successive high-speed encounters (galaxy harassment) trigger star formation activity because of the accumulation of gas in the galaxy center. Therefore, the galaxy harassment remains as the candidate for a mechanism of the Butcher-Oemler effect.

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arXiv1997

Evolution of Multiphase Hot Interstellar Medium in Elliptical Galaxies

We present the results of a variety of simulations concerning the evolution of multiphase (inhomogeneous) hot interstellar medium (ISM) in elliptical galaxies. We assume the gases ejected from stars do not mix globally with the circumferential gas. The ejected gas components evolve separately according to their birth time, position, and origin. We consider cases where supernova remnants (SNRs) mix with local ISM. The components with high metal abundance and/or high density cool and drop out of the hot ISM gas faster than the other components because of their high metal abundance and/or density. This makes the average metal abundance of the hot ISM low. Furthermore, since the metal abundance of mass-loss gas decreases with radius, gas inflow from outer region makes the average metal abundance of the hot ISM smaller than that of mass-loss gas in the inner region. As gas ejection rate of stellar system decreases, mass fraction of mass-loss gas ejected at outer region increases in a galaxy. If the mixing of SNRs is ineffective, our model predicts that observed [Si/Fe] and [Mg/Fe] should decrease towards the galactic center because of strong iron emission by SNRs. In the outer region, where the cooling of time of the ISM is long, the selective cooling is ineffective and most of gas components remain hot. Thus, the metal abundance of the ISM in this region directly reflects that of the gas ejected from stars. Our model shows that supernovae are not effective heating sources in the inner region of elliptical galaxies, because most of the energy released by them radiates. Therefore, cooling flow is established even if the supernova rate is high. Mixing of SNRs with ambient ISM makes the energy transfer between supernova explosion and ambient ISM more effective.

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arXiv1994

Influence of Cooling Flow and Galactic Motion on the Iron Distribution in Clusters of Galaxies

Iron abundance distribution is now known for 12 clusters of galaxies. For some clusters (e.g. Centaurus) the observed abundance increases toward the cluster center, while for the others (e.g. Coma and Hydra-A) no significant inhomogeneity was observed. In order to understand this difference, we investigate the influence of cooling flow and turbulence produced by galactic motion on the iron abundance distribution by simple spherical models. We show that the cooling flow has a significant effect to flatten the iron abundance distribution if the flow velocity is sufficiently large. Further, by applying our analysis to the above clusters we show that we can give a systematic account for the observed variety of the iron abundance distribution qualitatively.

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