Powering of cool filaments in the cores of galaxy clusters
Cool-core clusters often possess a network of bright gaseous filaments,
observed in radio, IR, optical and X-ray bands. We propose that these
filaments are powered by the reconnection of the magnetic field in the
wakes of buoyant bubbles. AGN-inflated bubbles of relativistic plasma rise
buoyantly in the cluster atmosphere, stretching and amplifying the field
in the wake. The field lines in the wake have opposite directions and are
forced together as the bubble motion stretches the filament. This setup
bears strong similarity to the coronal loops on the Sun or the Earth
magneto-tail. The reconnection process naturally explains both the
required level of local dissipation rate in filaments and the overall
luminosity of filaments. The original source of power for the filaments is
the potential energy of buoyant bubbles, inflated by the central AGN.
Eugene Churazov — Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik
Wednesday 26 June 2013, 15:30
Location: C4.174