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A Chandra Study of the NGC 7618/UGC 12491 Major Group Merger at Apogee: Multiple Cold Fronts, Boxy Wings, Filaments, and Arc-shaped Slingshot Tails

Machacek, M. E.; Jones, C.; Kraft, R. P.; Forman, W. R.; Roediger, E.; Sheardown, A.; Wan, J. T.

Authors

M. E. Machacek

C. Jones

R. P. Kraft

W. R. Forman

Profile image of Elke Roediger

Dr Elke Roediger E.Roediger@hull.ac.uk
Reader in Astrophysics, Director of the E.A. Milne Centre for Astrophysics

A. Sheardown

J. T. Wan



Abstract

Analyses of major group mergers are key to understanding the evolution of large-scale structure in the Universe and the microphysical properties of the hot gas in these systems. We present imaging and spectral analyses of deep Chandra observations of hot gas structures formed in the major merger of the NGC 7618 and UGC 12491 galaxy groups and compare the observed hot gas morphology, temperatures, and abundances with recent simulations. The morphology of the observed multiple cold front edges and boxy wings are consistent with those expected to be formed by Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and gas sloshing in inviscid gas. The arc-shaped slingshot tail morphologies seen in each galaxy suggest that the dominant galaxies are near their orbital apogee after having experienced at least one core passage at a large impact parameter.

Citation

Machacek, M. E., Jones, C., Kraft, R. P., Forman, W. R., Roediger, E., Sheardown, A., & Wan, J. T. (2023). A Chandra Study of the NGC 7618/UGC 12491 Major Group Merger at Apogee: Multiple Cold Fronts, Boxy Wings, Filaments, and Arc-shaped Slingshot Tails. The Astrophysical journal, 958(1), Article 93. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad00b2

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 4, 2023
Online Publication Date Nov 15, 2023
Publication Date Nov 1, 2023
Deposit Date Nov 17, 2023
Publicly Available Date Nov 21, 2023
Journal Astrophysical Journal
Print ISSN 0004-637X
Electronic ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher American Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 958
Issue 1
Article Number 93
DOI https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad00b2
Keywords Galaxy environments; Galaxy mergers; Cool intergalactic medium; X-ray astronomy; Galaxy groups
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4444767

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Copyright Statement
© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.
Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.




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