Princeton University Astroplasmas Seminar

Shock physics in the merging galaxy cluster A2146

The galaxy cluster A2146 is undergoing a major merger and hosts two huge, bright Mach 2 shock fronts, which provide a unique opportunity to measure the electron-ion equilibration timescale along with other key transport phenomena.  Collisionless shocks occur over a wide range of scales from accretion shocks to supernova remnants and heliospheric shocks.  However, only clusters, particularly A2146 allow us to map the large-scale equilibration with a single observation, which is unaffected by cross-calibration uncertainties.  I will present preliminary results from a new 2.4Ms Chandra observation that provides a measure of this timescale, reveals the detailed shock structure and traces the disruption of both cool cores, including heating and mixing of cool gas blobs in ram pressure stripped tails.

Date & Time

June 04, 2021 | 11:30am – 1:00pm

Location

Virtual Meeting

Speakers

Helen Russell

Affiliation

University of Nottingham