A wide Chandra view of the core of the Perseus cluster

Andy C. Fabian (1) , Jeremy S. Sanders (1) , S. W. Allen (2) , R. E. A. Canning (1) , E. Churazov (3) , C. S. Crawford (1) , William R. Forman (4) , J. Gabany (5) , J. Hlavacek-Larrondo (1) , Roderick M. Johnstone (1) , Helen R. Russell (6) , Christopher S. Reynolds (7) , Philippe Salomé (8) , G. B. Taylor (9) , A. J. Young (10)

1 IoA - Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge
2 Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics, Stanford University
3 MPA - Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik
4 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
5 Blackbird 2 Observatory, Alder Springs
6 University of Waterloo [Waterloo]
7 Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland
8 LERMA - Laboratoire d'Etude du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique
9 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico
10 H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory [Bristol]

We present new Chandra images of the X-ray emission from the core of the Perseus cluster of galaxies. The total observation time is now 1.4 Ms. New depressions in X-ray surface brightness are discovered to the north of NGC 1275, which we interpret as old rising bubbles. They imply that bubbles are long-lived and do not readily breakup when rising in the hot cluster atmosphere. The existence of a 300 kpc long NNW-SSW bubble axis means there cannot be significant transverse large-scale flows exceeding 100 km s^-1. Interesting spatial correlations are seen along that axis in early deep radio maps. A semicircular cold front about 100 kpc west of the nucleus is seen. It separates an inner disturbed region dominated by the activity of the active nucleus of NGC 1275 from the outer region where a subcluster merger dominates.

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]

Andy C. Fabian, Jeremy S. Sanders, S. W. Allen, R. E. A. Canning, E. Churazov, et al.. A wide Chandra view of the core of the Perseus cluster. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2011, 418, pp.2154-2164. ⟨10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19402.x⟩. ⟨hal-03742886⟩