Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

The heating of gas in a galaxy cluster by X-ray cavities and large-scale shock fronts

Nature volume 433, pages 45–47 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Most of the baryons in galaxy clusters reside between the galaxies in a hot, tenuous gas1. The densest gas in their centres should cool and accrete onto giant central galaxies at rates of 10–1,000 solar masses per year1. No viable repository for this gas, such as clouds or new stars, has been found1. New X-ray observations, however, have revealed far less cooling below X-ray temperatures than expected2, altering the previously accepted picture of cooling flows. As a result, most of the gas must be heated to and maintained at temperatures above ∼2 keV (ref. 3). The most promising heating mechanism is powerful radio jets emanating from supermassive black holes in the central galaxies of clusters4. Here we report the discovery of giant cavities and shock fronts in a distant (z = 0.22) cluster caused by an interaction between a radio source and the hot gas surrounding it. The energy involved is ∼6 × 1061 erg, the most powerful radio outburst known. This is enough energy to quench a cooling flow for several Gyr, and to provide ∼1/3 keV per particle of heat to the surrounding cluster.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The relationships between the X-ray, radio and optical emissions of the cluster.
Figure 2: Projected temperature and pressure profiles of the cluster gas.
Figure 3: Projected 0.5–7.5-keV radial surface brightness profile of the cocoon region compared to shock-model predictions.
Figure 4: Temperature map of the central 200 × 200 arcsec of the cluster.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Fabian, A. C. Cooling flows in clusters of galaxies. Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 32, 277–318 (1994)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Peterson, J. R. et al. High-resolution X-ray spectroscopic constraints on cooling-flow models for clusters of galaxies. Astrophys. J. 590, 207–224 (2003)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Fabian, A. C., Mushotzky, R. F., Nulsen, P. E. J. & Peterson, J. R. On the soft X-ray spectrum of cooling flows. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 321, L20–L24 (2001)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. McNamara, B. R. et al. Chandra X-Ray Observations of the Hydra A cluster: An interaction between the radio source and the X-ray-emitting gas. Astrophys. J. Lett. 534, 135–138 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bîrzan, L. et al. A systematic study of radio-induced X-ray cavities in clusters, groups, and galaxies. Astrophys. J. 607, 800–809 (2004)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Fabian, A. C. et al. A deep Chandra observation of the Perseus cluster: shocks and ripples. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 344, 43–47 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Forman, W. et al. Reflections of AGN outbursts in the gaseous atmosphere of M87. Astrophys. J. (in the press)

  8. Soker, N. et al. A moderate cluster cooling flow model. Astrophys. J. 549, 832–839 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Nulsen, P. E. J. et al. The cluster-scale AGN outburst in Hydra A. Astrophys. J. (submitted)

  10. Scheuer, P. A. G. Models of extragalactic radio sources with a continuous energy supply from a central object. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 166, 513–528 (1974)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Heinz, S., Reynolds, C. S. & Begelman, M. C. X-ray signatures of evolving radio galaxies. Astrophys. J. 501, 126–136 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Condon, J. J. et al. The NRAO VLA sky survey. Astron. J. 115, 1693–1716 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Bicknell, G. V., Dopita, M. A. & O'Dea, C. P. Unification of the radio and optical properties of gigahertz peak spectrum and compact steep-spectrum radio sources. Astrophys. J. 485, 112–124 (1997)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. De Young, D. S. On the relation between Fanaroff-Riley types I and II radio galaxies. Astrophys. J. Lett. 405, 13–16 (1993)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. Donahue, M., Stocke, J. T. & Gioia, I. M. Distant cooling flows. Astrophys. J. 385, 49–60 (1992)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Churazov, E. et al. Evolution of buoyant bubbles in M87. Astrophys. J. 554, 261–273 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Churazov, E. et al. Cooling flows as a calorimeter of active galactic nucleus mechanical power. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 332, 729–734 (2002)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Edge, A. C. The detection of molecular gas in the central galaxies of cooling flow clusters. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 328, 762–782 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. McNamara, B. R. & O'Connell, R. W. Star formation in cooling flows in clusters of galaxies. Astron. J. 98, 2018–2043 (1989)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Donahue, M. & Stocke, J. T. ROSAT observations of distant clusters of galaxies. Astrophys. J. 449, 554–566 (1995)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Wu, K. K. S., Fabian, A. C. & Nulsen, P. E. J. Non-gravitational heating in the hierarchical formation of X-ray clusters. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 318, 889–912 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Markevitch, M. The LX-T relation and temperature function for nearby clusters revisited. Astrophys. J. 504, 27–34 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. Gebhardt, K. et al. A relationship between nuclear black hole mass and galaxy velocity dispersion. Astrophys. J. Lett. 539, 13–16 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. Stocke, J. T. et al. The Einstein Observatory extended medium-sensitivity survey. II—The optical identifications. Astrophys. J. Suppl. 76, 813–874 (1991)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Ferrarese, L. & Merritt, D. A fundamental relation between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies. Astrophys. J. 539, L9–L12 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Heckman, T. M. et al. Present-day growth of black holes and bulges: the SDSS perspective. Astrophys. J. 613, 109–118 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Clarke, T. E., Kronberg, P. P. & Böhringer, H. A new radio-X-ray probe of galaxy cluster magnetic fields. Astrophys. J. Lett. 547, 111–114 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Kronberg, P. P. et al. Magnetic energy of the intergalactic medium from galactic black holes. Astrophys. J. 560, 178–186 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Furlanetto, S. R. & Loeb, A. Intergalactic magnetic fields from quasar outflows. Astrophys. J. 556, 619–634 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

B.R.McN. thanks G. Evrard, D. De Young, M. Sharma and J. Shields for discussions. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is operated by Associated Universities Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. This work was supported by a NASA Long Term Space Astrophysics grant, a Chandra Archival Research grant, a Chandra Guest Observer grant, and a contract from the Department of Energy through the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Author information

Author notes

  1. P. E. J. Nulsen

    Present address: University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Astrophysical Institute and Department of Physics & Astronomy, Ohio University, Clippinger Laboratories, Ohio, 45701, Athens, USA

    B. R. McNamara & D. A. Rafferty

  2. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, 60 Garden Street, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

    P. E. J. Nulsen

  3. MIT Center for Space Research, Cambridge, 1 Hampshire Street, Massachusetts, 02139, USA

    M. W. Wise

  4. National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Very Large Array, USA, Socorro, New Mexico, 87801

    C. Carilli

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Box 3818, Virginia, 22903, USA

    C. L. Sarazin & E. L. Blanton

  6. Institute for Astrophysical Research, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, 02215, USA

    E. L. Blanton

Authors
  1. B. R. McNamara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. P. E. J. Nulsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. M. W. Wise
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. D. A. Rafferty
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. C. Carilli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. C. L. Sarazin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. E. L. Blanton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. R. McNamara.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

McNamara, B., Nulsen, P., Wise, M. et al. The heating of gas in a galaxy cluster by X-ray cavities and large-scale shock fronts. Nature 433, 45–47 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03202

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03202

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing