A shock near the virial radius of the Perseus Cluster

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Authors

ZHU Z. SIMIONESCU A. AKAMATSU H. ZHANG X. KAASTRA J. S. DE PLAA J. URBAN O. ALLEN S. W. WERNER Norbert

Year of publication 2021
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Astronomy and Astrophysics
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202140673
Keywords Galaxies: clusters: intracluster medium; Galaxies: clusters: individual: Perseus Cluster; X-rays: galaxies: clusters
Description Context. Previous X-ray studies of the Perseus Cluster, consisting of 85 Suzaku pointings along eight azimuthal directions, revealed a particularly steep decrease in the projected temperature profile near the virial radius (similar to r(200)) towards the northwest (NW). Aims. To further explore this shock candidate, another 4 Suzaku observations on the NW edge of the Perseus Cluster have been obtained. These deeper data were designed to provide the best possible control of systematic uncertainties in the spectral analysis. Methods. Using the combined Suzaku observations, we have carefully investigated this interesting region by analyzing the spectra of various annuli and extracting projected thermodynamic profiles. Results. We find that the projected temperature profile shows a break near r(200), indicating a shock with M = 1.9 +/- 0.3. Corresponding discontinuities are also found in the projected emission measure and the density profiles at the same location. This evidence of a shock front so far away from the cluster center is unprecedented, and may provide a first insight into the properties of large-scale virial shocks which shape the process of galaxy cluster growth.
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