A Filament between Galaxy Clusters A3391 and A3395

Eric R. Tittley, Mark Henriksen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Filamentary gas spanning the region between the galaxy clusters Abell 3391 and Abell 3395 has been detected using ASCA and ROSAT archived data. The gas has a minimum flux of 1.3×10-12 ergs cm-2 s-1 (0.8-10 keV). Within this filament resides a galaxy group for which a flux of (2.0+/-0.3)×10-13 ergs cm-2 s-1 (0.8-10 keV) is determined. An analysis using ray-tracing determines light scattered into the filamentary region contributes 13% of the count rate. The structure in which the filamentary gas resides is postulated to be a filament aligned nearly lengthwise with the line of sight. Identification of this structure as a filament is based on the angular and redshift distribution of surrounding galaxies and clusters. The distribution is compatible with the structure being a quasi-linear structure tilted to the line of sight such that the ratio of the depth to the tangential distance is between 6:1 and 18:1. The filamentary gas contains on the order of 1013 Msolar of gas, which is close to 2% of the total mass of the system.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)673-686
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume563
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2001

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Galaxies: Clusters: Individual: Alphanumeric: A3391
  • Galaxies: Clusters: Individual: Alphanumeric: A3395
  • Cosmology: Large-Scale Structure of Universe
  • X-Rays: Diffuse Background
  • X-Rays: Galaxies: Clusters

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