Prospects of High-Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy for AGN Feedback in Galaxy Clusters

TL;DR

High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy, enabled by future observatories like IXO, can answer key questions about how AGN feedback heats galaxy clusters and maintains the cooling-heating balance.

Contribution

This paper demonstrates that high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy with future observatories can resolve fundamental questions about AGN feedback in galaxy clusters.

Findings

Simulations show spectroscopy can measure AGN energy transfer

High-resolution data can determine heating-cooling balance

Future observatories will enable detailed AGN feedback studies

Abstract

One of the legacies of the {\rm Chandra} era is the discovery of AGN-inflated X-ray cavities in virtually all cool-core clusters, with mechanical luminosities comparable to or larger than the cluster cooling rate, suggesting that AGN might be responsible for heating clusters. This discovery poses a new set of questions that cannot be addressed by X-ray imaging or modeling alone: Are AGN actually responsible for halting cooling flows? How is the AGN energy transferred to heat? How tight is the observed balance between heating and cooling? Using numerical simulations and a new virtual X-ray observatory tool, we demonstrate that high-resolution, high-throughput X-ray spectroscopy can address these questions and that the International X-ray Observatory \ixo will have the necessary capabilities to deliver these measurements.