Sloshing Cold Fronts in Galaxy Cluster Abell 2566

TL;DR

This study analyzes Chandra X-ray data of galaxy cluster Abell 2566, revealing gas sloshing, cold fronts, and spiral structures likely caused by a minor merger, enhancing understanding of intracluster medium dynamics.

Contribution

First detailed analysis of gas sloshing and cold fronts in Abell 2566 using Chandra data, linking spiral structures to minor merger activity.

Findings

Detection of spiral structures in X-ray emission.

Identification of cold fronts with sharp temperature jumps.

Evidence of minor merger influencing cluster dynamics.

Abstract

This paper presents properties of the intracluster medium (ICM) in the environment of a cool core cluster Abell 2566 (redshift $z$ = 0.08247) based on the analysis of 20 ks Chandra X-ray data. 2D imaging analysis of the Chandra data from this cluster revealed spiral structures in the morphology of X-ray emission from within the central 109 kpc formed due to gas sloshing. This analysis also witness sharp edges in the surface brightness distribution along the south-east and north-west of the X-ray peaks at 41.6 kpc and 77.4 kpc, respectively. Spectral analysis of 0.5 - 7 keV X-ray photons along these discontinuities exhibited sharp temperature jumps from 2.3 to 3.1 keV and 1.8 to 2.8 keV, respectively, with consistency in the pressure profiles, implying their association with cold fronts due to gas sloshing of the gas. Further confirmation for such an association was provided by the deprojected broken power-law density function fit to the surface brightness distribution along these wedge shaped sectorial regions. This study also witness an offset of 4.6 arcsec (6.8 kpc) between the BCG and the X-ray peak, and interaction of the BCG with a sub-system in the central region, pointing towards the origin of the spiral structure due to a minor merger.