Andisheh Mahdavi
University of Victoria
Dark and Luminous Matter in Clusters of Galaxies
Monday, February 25, 2008, 4:00 p.m.
Refreshments at 3:45 p.m.
ABSTRACT
Clusters of galaxies are dominated by dark matter. We can see the
gravitational effect of this dark material on the orbits of
cluster members, the thermodynamics of the hot gas, and the
lensed shapes of galaxies behind the cluster. I will show that
combining multiwavelength data for a single relaxed cluster can
yield powerful constraints on its dark matter distribution and on
the equation of state of the intracluster plasma. At the same
time, as the bullet cluster teaches us, multiwavelength
observations of merging clusters can yield significant and
perhaps even more interesting constraints on dark matter
properties. Both relaxed and merging clusters are
well-represented in the Canadian Cluster Comparison Project, an
X-ray, optical, and radio survey of fifty nearby clusters. I will
conclude by discussing an unusual, massive, X-ray bright
core nearly devoid of galaxies at the heart of Abell 520, and
will explore its implications for our understanding of the
fundamental nature of dark matter.