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The XMM Cluster Survey: the interplay between the brightest cluster galaxy and the intracluster medium via AGN feedback

Stott, John P.; Hickox, Ryan C.; Edge, Alastair C.; Collins, Chris A.; Hilton, Matt; Harrison, Craig D.; Romer, A. Kathy; Rooney, Philip J.; Kay, Scott T.; Miller, Christopher J.; Sahlén, Martin; Lloyd-Davies, Ed J.; Mehrtens, Nicola; Hoyle, Ben; Liddle, Andrew R.; Viana, Pedro T.P.; McCarthy, Ian G.; Schaye, Joop; Booth, C.M.

The XMM Cluster Survey: the interplay between the brightest cluster galaxy and the intracluster medium via AGN feedback Thumbnail


Authors

John P. Stott

Ryan C. Hickox

Chris A. Collins

Matt Hilton

Craig D. Harrison

A. Kathy Romer

Philip J. Rooney

Scott T. Kay

Christopher J. Miller

Martin Sahlén

Ed J. Lloyd-Davies

Nicola Mehrtens

Ben Hoyle

Andrew R. Liddle

Pedro T.P. Viana

Ian G. McCarthy

Joop Schaye

C.M. Booth



Abstract

Using a sample of 123 X-ray clusters and groups drawn from the XMM Cluster Survey first data release, we investigate the interplay between the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG), its black hole and the intracluster/group medium (ICM). It appears that for groups and clusters with a BCG likely to host significant active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback, gas cooling dominates in those with TX > 2 keV while AGN feedback dominates below. This may be understood through the subunity exponent found in the scaling relation we derive between the BCG mass and cluster mass over the halo mass range 1013 < M500 < 1015 M⊙ and the lack of correlation between radio luminosity and cluster mass, such that BCG AGN in groups can have relatively more energetic influence on the ICM. The LX–TX relation for systems with the most massive BCGs, or those with BCGs co-located with the peak of the ICM emission, is steeper than that for those with the least massive and most offset, which instead follows self-similarity. This is evidence that a combination of central gas cooling and powerful, well fuelled AGN causes the departure of the ICM from pure gravitational heating, with the steepened relation crossing self-similarity at TX= 2 keV. Importantly, regardless of their black hole mass, BCGs are more likely to host radio-loud AGN if they are in a massive cluster (TX≳ 2 keV) and again co-located with an effective fuel supply of dense, cooling gas. This demonstrates that the most massive black holes appear to know more about their host cluster than they do about their host galaxy. The results lead us to propose a physically motivated, empirical definition of ‘cluster’ and ‘group’, delineated at 2 keV.

Citation

Stott, J. P., Hickox, R. C., Edge, A. C., Collins, C. A., Hilton, M., Harrison, C. D., …Booth, C. (2012). The XMM Cluster Survey: the interplay between the brightest cluster galaxy and the intracluster medium via AGN feedback. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 422(3), 2213-2229. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20764.x

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date May 21, 2012
Deposit Date Apr 8, 2013
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 422
Issue 3
Pages 2213-2229
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20764.x
Keywords Galaxies, Clusters, Intracluster medium, Elliptical and lenticular, cD.

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2012 The Authors Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2012 RAS Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





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