Constraining the Nature of X-ray Cavities in Clusters and Galaxies

TL;DR

This study analyzes 64 X-ray cavities in galaxy clusters and finds that their evolution and stability are better explained by magnetically dominated models rather than purely hydrodynamic ones, impacting our understanding of AGN feedback.

Contribution

The paper provides strong evidence supporting magnetically dominated cavity models over hydrodynamic models through extensive survey data and Monte Carlo simulations.

Findings

Cavity sizes do not follow adiabatic hydrodynamic expansion predictions.

Most cavities would be shredded by instabilities if purely hydrodynamic.

Magnetically dominated models fit the data within 1sigma confidence.

Abstract

We present results from an extensive survey of 64 cavities in the X-ray halos of clusters, groups and normal elliptical galaxies. We show that the evolution of the size of the cavities as they rise in the X-ray atmosphere is inconsistent with the standard model of adiabatic expansion of purely hydrodynamic models. We also note that the majority of the observed bubbles should have already been shredded apart by Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities if they were of purely hydrodynamic nature. Instead we find that the data agrees much better with a model where the cavities are magnetically dominated and inflated by a current-dominated magneto-hydrodynamic jet model, recently developed by Li et al. (2006) and Nakamura et al. (2006). We conduct complex Monte-Carlo simulations of the cavity detection process including incompleteness effects to reproduce the cavity sample's characteristics. We find that the current-dominated model agrees within 1sigma, whereas the other models can be excluded at >5sigma confidence. To bring hydrodynamic models into better agreement, cavities would have to be continuously inflated. However, these assessments are dependent on our correct understanding of the detectability of cavities in X-ray atmospheres, and will await confirmation when automated cavity detection tools become available in the future. Our results have considerable impact on the energy budget associated with active galactic nucleus feedback.