Linking a universal gas density profile to the core-excised X-ray luminosity in galaxy clusters up to z ~ 1.1

TL;DR

This study analyzes galaxy cluster gas density profiles and their relation to X-ray luminosity and mass, revealing slight evolution, mass dependence, and a tight correlation with the underlying mass, using XMM-Newton data up to redshift 1.1.

Contribution

It links universal gas density profiles to core-excised X-ray luminosity and investigates their evolution and scatter, providing new insights into cluster structure and scaling relations.

Findings

Average density profile evolves slightly stronger than self-similar.

The LXc-MYx relation has an intrinsic scatter of 13%.

The gas content varies with mass and profiles evolve with redshift.

Abstract

We investigate the regularity of galaxy cluster gas density profiles and the link to the relation between core-excised luminosity, LXc, and mass from the Yx proxy, MYx, for 93 SZE-selected objects. The sample spans masses M500=[0.5 - 20] x 10e14 Msun, and lies at redshifts 0.05<z<1.13. Using XMM-Newton observations, we derive an average ICM density profile for the SZE-selected systems and determine its scaling with mass and redshift. This average profile evolves slightly stronger than self-similar (a_z = 2.09+/-0.02), and has significant dependence on mass (a_M = 0.22 +/- 0.01). Deviations from the average scaling with radius indicate different evolution for the core regions and the bulk. We measure the radial variation of the intrinsic scatter, finding a slight evolution with redshift. The average profile of the SZE-selected systems describes that of X-ray-selected systems at low redshift. The scaled core properties are positively skewed at later times, suggesting an increased incidence of centrally peaked objects at lower redshifts. The relation between LXc and MYx has an intrinsic scatter of 13%. Using simulations, we investigate the impact of selection effects, intrinsic scatter, and covariance on this relation. The slope is insensitive to selection and intrinsic scatter between quantities; however, the scatter is very dependent on the covariance between LXc and Yx. Accounting for our use of the Yx proxy to determine the mass, we estimate an upper limit to the intrinsic scatter with respect to the true mass of 22%. We probe the connection between the scatter in density profiles and that in the LXc-M relation. Our results suggest that the ICM bulk evolves approximately self-similarly, with the core regions evolving separately; indicate a variation of the gas content with mass; and show that LXc has a tight relation to the underlying mass.