Niels Bohr Institute > Calendar > 2009 > Dynamics of Galaxy Clu...

Dynamics of Galaxy Clusters - a new method to measure velocities inside clusters

MSc defence by Joel Johansson 

Abstract:

Galaxy clusters are the largest objects in the universe, containing hundreds of galaxies and huge amounts of dark matter. Most cosmological applications rely on accurate measurements of their masses which has been done using many methods.

Numerical simulations indicate that cluster masses are typically underestimated by about 10-20% when gas velocities are not included in the X-ray analysis.

In my thesis I present a completely new method to measure motions inside clusters only using X-ray data, by connecting the Euler and Jeans equations.