The interaction between rising bubbles and cold fronts in cool core clusters

TL;DR

This paper explores how cold fronts in galaxy clusters influence the behavior and visibility of buoyant bubbles created by active galactic nuclei, using numerical simulations to understand their interactions.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed simulation study of the interaction between cold fronts and buoyant bubbles in cool core galaxy clusters.

Findings

Outer Northern bubble's position explained by cold front interaction

Cold fronts may disrupt outer bubbles, explaining their scarcity

Simulation results support observed bubble configurations

Abstract

We investigate whether the swirling cold front in the core of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies has affected the outer buoyant bubbles that originated from jets from the Active Galactic Nucleus in the central galaxy NGC1275. The inner bubbles and the Outer Southern bubble lie along a North-South axis through the nucleus, whereas the Outer Northern bubble appears rotated about 45 deg from that axis. Detailed numerical simulations of the interaction indicates that the Outer Northern bubble may have been pushed clockwise accounting for its current location. Given the common occurrence of cold fronts in cool core clusters, we raise the possibility that the lack of many clear outer bubbles in such environments may be due to their disruption by cold fronts.