A systematic search for X-ray cavities in galaxy clusters, groups, and elliptical galaxies

TL;DR

This study systematically searches for X-ray cavities across a diverse sample of galaxy clusters, groups, and galaxies, revealing consistent cavity detection rates and confirming correlations between cavity size and distance from the center.

Contribution

It provides the first large-scale, uniform analysis of X-ray cavities across different cosmic environments, expanding understanding of cavity formation.

Findings

148 cavities detected from 69 targets

Detection rates similar across environments

Strong correlation between cavity size and distance

Abstract

We perform a comprehensive study of X-ray cavities using a large sample of X-ray targets selected from the Chandra archive. The sample is selected to cover a large dynamic range including galaxy clusters, groups, and individual galaxies. Using $\beta$-modeling and unsharp masking techniques, we investigate the presence of X-ray cavities for 133 targets that have sufficient X-ray photons for analysis. We detect 148 X-ray cavities from 69 targets and measure their properties, including cavity size, angle, and distance from the center of the diffuse X-ray gas. We confirm the strong correlation between cavity size and distance from the X-ray center similar to previous studies (i.e., Birzan et al. 2004; Diehl et al. 2008; Dong et al. 2010). We find that the detection rates of X-ray cavities are similar among galaxy clusters, groups and individual galaxies, suggesting that the formation mechanism of X-ray cavities is independent of environment.