# Building a cluster: shocks, cavities, and cooling filaments in the group-group merger NGC 6338

## TL;DR

This study presents multi-wavelength observations of the NGC 6338 galaxy group merger, revealing shock-heated gas, cool cores with potential AGN activity, and rapid cooling in filaments, indicating a highly energetic and complex merging process.

## Contribution

The paper provides detailed observational evidence of shock heating, cool core structures, and cooling filaments in a major galaxy group merger, highlighting the violent nature of the event.

## Key findings

- Shock Mach number M=2.3 or greater.
- Presence of cool, enriched gas tails and potential AGN cavities.
- Rapid cooling in Halpha filaments with short cooling times.

## Abstract

We present deep Chandra, XMM-Newton, Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope and Halpha observations of the group-group merger NGC 6338. X-ray imaging and spectral mapping show that as well as trailing tails of cool, enriched gas, the two cool cores are embedded in an extensive region of shock heated gas with temperatures rising to ~5 keV. The velocity distribution of the member galaxies show that the merger is occurring primarily along the line of sight, and we estimate that the collision has produced shocks of Mach number M=2.3 or greater, making this one of the most violent mergers yet observed between galaxy groups. Both cool cores host potential AGN cavities and Halpha nebulae, indicating rapid radiative cooling. In the southern cool core around NGC 6338, we find that the X-ray filaments associated with the Halpha nebula have low entropies (<10 kev cm^2) and short cooling times (~200-300 Myr). In the northern core we identify an Halpha cloud associated with a bar of dense, cool X-ray gas offset from the dominant galaxy. We find no evidence of current jet activity in either core. We estimate the total mass of the system and find that the product of this group-group merger will likely be a galaxy cluster.