A high-frequency study of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect morphology in galaxy clusters

• Main Authors: Prokhorov, D. A, Colafrancesco, S, Akahori, T, Million, E. T, Nagataki, S, Yoshikawa, K
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 21-05-2011
• Subjects: Physics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1105.4271

High-frequency, high-resolution imaging of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect
is an important technique to study the complex structures of the atmospheres of
merging galaxy clusters. Such observations are sensitive to the details of the
electron spectrum. We show that the morphology of the SZ intensity maps in
simulated galaxy clusters observed at 345 GHz, 600 GHz, and 857 GHz are
significantly different because of SZ relativistic corrections. These
differences can be revealed by high-resolution imaging instruments.
We calculate relativistically corrected SZ intensity maps of a simulated,
massive, merging galaxy cluster and of the massive, merging clusters 1E0657-558
(the Bullet Cluster) and Abell 2219. The morphologies of the SZ intensity maps
are remarkably different between 345 GHz and 857 GHz for each merging cluster.
We show that high-resolution imaging observations of the SZ intensity maps at
these frequencies, obtainable with the LABOCA and HERSCHEL-SPIRE instruments,
allow to fully exploit the astrophysical relevance of the predicted SZ
morphological effect.