In the inner regions of a galaxy cluster, astronomers found by Michael McDonald from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA further evidence of cool gas flowing into the cluster center and there drives the production of stars to record levels. In addition to the fusion or close encounters of galaxies known as the "cooling flow" could be as likewise provide increased star formation rate. So far, this theoretically predicted gas flow but did not directly observe.
The studied clusters of galaxies with the catalog description SPT-CLJ2344-4243 is about 5.7 billion light-years away from Earth in the constellation Phoenix and is among the most massive known cluster in the universe. A large proportion of mass in such a gigantic accumulations is in the form of several million degrees from hot gas which is distributed diffusely between the galaxies. Due to the high temperatures the plasma radiates in X-rays and are so energy - the higher the density, the more. SPT-CLJ2344-4243, also called Phoenix pile, radiates from all known cluster at its brightest in this spectral region, McDonald and his colleagues report.
In the dense central regions of some pile, the gas can cool down by this energy loss in the course of less than a billion years. This reduces the pressure and the gas is compressed, whereupon flow in hot matter from the outer regions and so a continuous flow of movement should be set to the central area in transition. From observations in the X-ray, optical and infrared range include McDonald and his team now that the gas flow in the Phoenix pile more than twice should be as strong as previously thought in other galaxy clusters: 3800 solar masses of gas would be cooled here per year.
The thus smuggled into the center cool gas should provide ideal conditions for star formation. At the same time the most massive and brightest in the bunch - - In fact, the rate of star formation in the central galaxy appears to be significantly increased: Stars with total of more than 700 solar masses form here per year. "This growth spurt can not be longer than about 100 million years continue, otherwise the galaxy and the black hole would be much larger than their counterparts in the nearby Universe," says co-author Bradford Benson of the University of Chicago.
The now observed star formation rate is significantly higher than that of nearby clusters of galaxies, in which one also suspects such gas streams: Here arise per year only stars with a total of about twenty solar masses. This value is well below what would be expected by the alleged influx of gas, according to the scientists. Responsible could be a kind of feedback loop that prevents further cooling of the gas - about matter-energy rays from the vicinity of a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.
Whatever this may be a mechanism, the authors write, in SPT-CLJ2344-4243 he does not seem to work so effectively. Whether the mechanisms in the early universe were not as effective or astronomers have observed the system only in an exceptional moment of development, now more observations of distant galaxy clusters must clarify me similar properties.
started by Sandra Flores on 02 Nov 14
In the inner regions of a galaxy cluster, astronomers found by Michael McDonald from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA further evidence of cool gas flowing into the cluster center and there drives the production of stars to record levels. In addition to the fusion or close encounters of galaxies known as the "cooling flow" could be as likewise provide increased star formation rate. So far, this theoretically predicted gas flow but did not directly observe.
The studied clusters of galaxies with the catalog description SPT-CLJ2344-4243 is about 5.7 billion light-years away from Earth in the constellation Phoenix and is among the most massive known cluster in the universe. A large proportion of mass in such a gigantic accumulations is in the form of several million degrees from hot gas which is distributed diffusely between the galaxies. Due to the high temperatures the plasma radiates in X-rays and are so energy - the higher the density, the more. SPT-CLJ2344-4243, also called Phoenix pile, radiates from all known cluster at its brightest in this spectral region, McDonald and his colleagues report.
In the dense central regions of some pile, the gas can cool down by this energy loss in the course of less than a billion years. This reduces the pressure and the gas is compressed, whereupon flow in hot matter from the outer regions and so a continuous flow of movement should be set to the central area in transition. From observations in the X-ray, optical and infrared range include McDonald and his team now that the gas flow in the Phoenix pile more than twice should be as strong as previously thought in other galaxy clusters: 3800 solar masses of gas would be cooled here per year.
The thus smuggled into the center cool gas should provide ideal conditions for star formation. At the same time the most massive and brightest in the bunch - - In fact, the rate of star formation in the central galaxy appears to be significantly increased: Stars with total of more than 700 solar masses form here per year. "This growth spurt can not be longer than about 100 million years continue, otherwise the galaxy and the black hole would be much larger than their counterparts in the nearby Universe," says co-author Bradford Benson of the University of Chicago.
The now observed star formation rate is significantly higher than that of nearby clusters of galaxies, in which one also suspects such gas streams: Here arise per year only stars with a total of about twenty solar masses. This value is well below what would be expected by the alleged influx of gas, according to the scientists. Responsible could be a kind of feedback loop that prevents further cooling of the gas - about matter-energy rays from the vicinity of a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.
Whatever this may be a mechanism, the authors write, in SPT-CLJ2344-4243 he does not seem to work so effectively. Whether the mechanisms in the early universe were not as effective or astronomers have observed the system only in an exceptional moment of development, now more observations of distant galaxy clusters must clarify me similar properties.