Is there a giant Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the sloshing cold front of the Perseus cluster?

TL;DR

Deep Chandra observations of the Perseus cluster reveal a bay structure likely caused by a giant Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, providing constraints on the cluster's magnetic field strength and offering insights into gas sloshing phenomena.

Contribution

This study links observed bay structures in galaxy clusters to Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, constraining magnetic field ratios through comparison with simulations.

Findings

The bay in Perseus resembles a giant Kelvin-Helmholtz roll.

A magnetic pressure ratio of β=200 best matches observations.

Stronger or weaker magnetic fields produce inconsistent instability levels.

Abstract

Deep observations of nearby galaxy clusters with Chandra have revealed concave 'bay' structures in a number of systems (Perseus, Centaurus and Abell 1795), which have similar X-ray and radio properties. These bays have all the properties of cold fronts, where the temperature rises and density falls sharply, but are concave rather than convex. By comparing to simulations of gas sloshing, we find that the bay in the Perseus cluster bears a striking resemblance in its size, location and thermal structure, to a giant ($\approx$50 kpc) roll resulting from Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. If true, the morphology of this structure can be compared to simulations to put constraints on the initial average ratio of the thermal and magnetic pressure, $\beta= p_{\rm th} / p_{\rm B}$, throughout the overall cluster before the sloshing occurs, for which we find $\beta=200$ to best match the observations. Simulations with a stronger magnetic field ($\beta=100$) are disfavoured, as in these the large Kelvin-Helmholtz rolls do not form, while in simulations with a lower magnetic field ($\beta=500$) the level of instabilities is much larger than is observed. We find that the bay structures in Centaurus and Abell 1795 may also be explained by such features of gas sloshing.