A Simulation of the Intracluster Medium with Feedback from Cluster Galaxies

Christopher A. Metzler, August E. Evrard

Published 1993-09-29Version 1

The formation and evolution of an X--ray cluster is studied using a 3--D N-body + hydrodynamical simulation which includes feedback of energy and iron from cluster galaxies. The differences in evolution and final state between the simulation and a similar run without feedback are highlighted. We address the energetics of cluster gas; the distribution of dark matter, gas, and galaxies; the thermodynamic state of cluster gas, the beta model, and the beta discrepancy; x-ray evolution; the validity of estimates of the binding mass and of the baryon fraction of the cluster; dynamics of the galaxy population and velocity bias; and of the evolution of the iron abundance distribution in the cluster. We find that preheating by galactic winds results in a lower core density for the ICM, which in turn makes the simulated cluster fainter at high redshift and undergo rapid luminosity evolution to the present. A strong iron abundance gradient is present, even at high redshift. Velocity bias is present in the galaxy population; this bias combined with the preheating from winds drives the value of $\beta_{spec}\,=\,\sigma^{2}/\left(kT/\mu m_{p}\right)$ to values less than one. The two fluid simulation, modelling infall only, predicts $\beta_{spec}\,\geq\,1$, less in line with observation.