An Analytic Model for Galaxy Cluster Shocks
Galaxy cluster shocks happen when cold, fast, intergalactic gas from outside a cluster falls into a cluster and breaks the sound barrier, creating a local shock wave that decreases the pressure at that spot in a cluster. Studying shocks can tell us a lot about galaxy clusters and how exactly the universe works. Previously, shocks have been analyzed in individual galaxy clusters, but this is the first work to analyze shocks in cluster as a whole. Using a novel oriented stacking technique, we look at the position and significance of shock features in galaxy clusters as a whole, not just in a specific cluster. This poster specifically discusses an analytical model used to find the position and significance of shocks by fitting a base prediction with a Gaussian modification, using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo to determine the parameters of the Gaussian. We see consistent results across data sets from different telescopes and with fairly high significance.
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