Investigation of X-ray cavities in the cooling flow system Abell 1991

TL;DR

This study analyzes Chandra X-ray data of Abell 1991 to identify and characterize X-ray cavities, revealing their properties, temperature structure, and the AGN's role in balancing cooling losses.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of X-ray cavities in Abell 1991, including their shapes, temperatures, and energetic impact on the cluster core.

Findings

Identified a pair of ellipsoidal X-ray cavities with significant surface brightness deficiency.

Measured cavity temperatures around 1.5-1.8 keV, cooler than surrounding regions.

Cavity power is sufficient to offset the cluster's radiative cooling.

Abstract

We present results based on the systematic analysis of \textit{Chandra} archive data on the X-ray bright Abell Richness class-I type cluster Abell 1991 with an objective to investigate properties of the X-ray cavities hosted by this system. The unsharp masked image as well as 2-d $\beta$ model subtracted residual image of Abell 1991 reveals a pair of X-ray cavities and a region of excess emission in the central $\sim$12 kpc region. Both the cavities are of ellipsoidal shape and exhibit an order of magnitude deficiency in the X-ray surface brightness compared to that in the undisturbed regions. Spectral analysis of X-ray photons extracted from the cavities lead to the temperature values equal to $1.77_{-0.12}^{+0.19}$ keV for N-cavity and $1.53_{-0.06}^{+0.05}$ keV for S-cavity, while that for the excess X-ray emission region is found to be equal to $2.06_{-0.07}^{+0.12}$ keV. Radial temperature profile derived for Abell 1991 reveals a positive temperature gradient, reaching to a maximum of 2.63 keV at $\sim$ 76 kpc and then declines in outward direction. 0.5$-$2.0 keV soft band image of the central 15\arcsec region of Abell 1991 reveals relatively cooler three different knot like features that are about 10\arcsec off the X-ray peak of the cluster. Total power of the cavities is found to be equal to $\sim 8.64\times 10^{43}$ \lum, while the X-ray luminosity within the cooling radius is found to be 6.04 $\times 10^{43}$ \lum, comparison of which imply that the mechanical energy released by the central AGN outburst is sufficient to balance the radiative loss.