Relativistic Electrons andthe Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effectin Galaxy Clusters

博士 === 國立中央大學 === 天文研究所 === 92 === We investigate theoretical models for the radio halo and hard X-ray (HXR) excess in the Coma galaxy cluster. Time-independent and time-dependent re-acceleration models for relativistic electrons have been carried out to study the formation of the radio halo and HXR...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ping-Hung Kuo, 郭炳宏
Other Authors: Wing-Huen Ip
Format: Others
Language:en_US
Online Access:http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/21047340119500565738
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Summary:博士 === 國立中央大學 === 天文研究所 === 92 === We investigate theoretical models for the radio halo and hard X-ray (HXR) excess in the Coma galaxy cluster. Time-independent and time-dependent re-acceleration models for relativistic electrons have been carried out to study the formation of the radio halo and HXR excess. In these models, the relativistic electrons are injected by merger shocks and re-accelerated by ensuing violent turbulence. The effects of different Mach numbers of the merger shocks on the radio and HXR excess emission are also investigated. We adopt 6 uG as the central magnetic field and reproduce the observed radio spectra via the synchrotron emission. We also obtain a central "plateau" in the radio spectral-index distribution, which have been observed in radio emission distribution. Our models can also produce the observed HXR excess emission via the inverse Compton scattering of the cosmic microwave background photons. We find that only the merger shocks with Mach numbers around 1.6--2 can produce results in agreement with both the radio and HXR emission in the Coma cluster. We also investigate the evolution and number distribution of radio halos in galaxy clusters. Without re-acceleration or regeneration, the relativistic electrons responsible for the diffuse radio emission will lose their energy via inverse-Compton and synchrotron losses in a rather short time, and radio halos will have lifetimes ~ 0.1 Gyr. Radio halos could last for ~ Gyr if a significant level of re-acceleration is involved. The lifetimes of radio halos would be comparable with the cosmological time if the radio-emitting electrons are mainly the secondary electrons generated by pion decay following proton-proton collisions between cosmic-ray protons and the thermal intra-cluster medium within the galaxy clusters. Adopting both observational and theoretical constraints for the formation of radio halos, we calculate the formation rates and the comoving number density of radio halos in the hierarchical clustering scheme. Comparing with observations, we find that the lifetimes of radio halos are ~ Gyr. Our results indicate that a significant level of re-acceleration is necessary for the observed radio halos and the secondary electrons may not be a dominant origin for radio halos. We have proposed a method to calculate the real effect of non-isothermality on the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE). The non-isothermal effect is conventionally approximated by an emission-weighted temperature with the isothermal assumption or only considered the influence of the non-isothermal Compton y-parameter. We have compared the calculated SZE with those estimated by these two approximative methods for non-isothermal clusters with and without cooling flows. Two temperature profiles, the hybrid model and polytropic model, are considered for the clusters without cooling flows. For investigating the effect of cooling flows on the SZE, the A1835 cluster is taken for example. Temperature profiles in galaxy clusters strongly affect the SZE and consequently the estimated values of the Hubble constant. Different profiles result in very different error ranges for estimating the Hubble constant, ~ -3%--+10% for the hybrid model and ~ -10%--+40% for the polytropic model. Specially, the effect of cooling flows on determining the value of the Hubble constant is dramatic, ~ +45% for A1835, when the isothermal emission-weighted temperature is adopted.